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Absolute CD3+ CD158k+ lymphocyte count is reliable and more sensitive than cytomorphology to evaluate blood tumour burden in Sézary syndrome
Author(s) -
Bouaziz J.D.,
Remtoula N.,
Bensussan A.,
MarieCardine A.,
Bagot M.
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
british journal of dermatology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.304
H-Index - 179
eISSN - 1365-2133
pISSN - 0007-0963
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2133.2009.09364.x
Subject(s) - medicine , lymphocyte , immunology , peripheral blood , blood count , pathology
Summary Background CD158k/KIR3DL2 is a specific marker for Sézary cells which can be used to diagnose Sézary syndrome (SS) in erythrodermic patients with abnormal circulating T cells. Objectives To evaluate the suitability of CD158k/KIR3DL2 for detecting and evaluating blood tumour load during the follow up of patients with SS. Methods The absolute CD3+ CD158k+ lymphocyte count was compared with the absolute count of cytomorphological Sézary cells and was correlated with clinical flares in a cohort of patients with SS. Twenty‐five patients were included in the study and 48 blood samples were analysed. Results The absolute count of CD3+ CD158k+ cells strongly correlated with the absolute count of atypical circulating cells ( r = 0·97, P < 10 −15 ). The CD3+ CD158k+ lymphocyte cell count was in eight cases more sensitive than cytomorphology for detecting atypical circulating cells especially for small‐sized tumour cells. The tumour burden evaluated by CD3+ CD158k+ immunostaining was significantly associated with clinical flare ( P < 10 −4 ). Conclusions CD3+ CD158k+ phenotyping is a reliable and objective test to monitor the blood tumour burden in patients with SS under systemic therapy.