Objective: In order to clarify the clinical and laboratory features of adult T cell leukemia (ATL): morphology, immunology, cytogenetics, serology and molecular biology.
Methods: Indirect immunofluorescence assay and ELISA were used to detect serum HTLV-I antibody. The HTLV-I provirus sequence were amplified by PCR and confirmed by liquid hybridization.
Results and conclusion: Nine cases of ATL were diagnosed. The major clinical manifestation was lymph node enlargement found in all patients. Skin involvement and osteolysis were not frequent. The characteristic finding was leukemic cells with highly indented or lobulated flower-like nuclei in peripheral blood and bone marrow. ATL cells were CD2, CD3, CD4, CD25 positive and CD8 negative. No specific chromosome abnormality or HLA type was found. Seven of 8 patients examined had HTLV-I antibody. The HTLV-I provirus genome sequence integrated into host cell DNA was amplified by PCR and confirmed by liquid hybridization. All of these results showed that HTLV-I was also the etiological agent of ATL in China. One of the 9 cases of ATL was classified as lymphoma type, one as chronic-type, and the rest as acute type.