High-grade canine T-cell lymphoma/leukemia with plasmacytoid morphology: a clinical pathological study of nine cases

J Vet Diagn Invest. 2003 Jul;15(4):330-7. doi: 10.1177/104063870301500405.

Abstract

The aim of this study is to determine the clinical, morphological, and immunophenotypical presentation of 9 cases of a particular type of canine T-cell lymphoma/leukemia. The morphological presentation was a diffuse infiltration of small, medium-sized, or large blast cells with eccentric nuclei, hyperbasophilic cytoplasm, and a juxtanuclear, pale cytoplasmic area, giving a plasmacytoid appearance and suggesting a B-cell morphology. Surprisingly, all 9 cases were of T-cell phenotype (CD3+). Among the 7 immunophenotyped cases, 4 were CD4-/CD8+, 2 CD8+/CD4+, and 1 CD4+/CD8-. The median Ki-67 index was 65.7%, which placed this lymphoma in the high-grade group. This type of lymphoma/leukemia was found in dogs between 1 and 11 years of age, with a median age of 5.8. The male-female ratio was 0.8 for a reference population of 1.04. The most significant clinical findings were lymphadenopathy either generalized or localized in all cases, a mediastinal mass in 4 cases, bone marrow involvement in 7 cases, hypercalcemia in 4 cases, along with an aggressive clinical course and a poor response to chemotherapy in all cases, with a median disease-free survival time of 3 months.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Disease-Free Survival
  • Dog Diseases / pathology*
  • Dogs
  • Female
  • Immunophenotyping / veterinary
  • Leukemia, T-Cell / pathology
  • Leukemia, T-Cell / veterinary*
  • Lymphoma, T-Cell / pathology
  • Lymphoma, T-Cell / veterinary*
  • Male
  • Prognosis
  • Sex Ratio