PMID: 9192774Jun 15, 1997Paper

Nonnasal lymphoma expressing the natural killer cell marker CD56: a clinicopathologic study of 49 cases of an uncommon aggressive neoplasm.

Blood
J K ChanW H Lau

Abstract

Expression of the natural killer (NK) cell antigen CD56 is uncommon among lymphomas, and those that do are almost exclusively of non-B-cell lineage and show a predilection for the nasal and nasopharyngeal region. This study analyzes 49 cases of nonnasal CD56+ lymphomas, the largest series to date, to characterize the clinicopathologic spectrum of these rare neoplasms. All patients were Chinese. Four categories could be delineated. (1) Nasal-type NK/T cell lymphoma (n = 34) patients were adults 21 to 76 years of age (median, 50 years), including 25 men and 9 women. They presented with extranodal disease, usually in multiple sites. The commonest sites of involvement were skin, upper aerodigestive tract, testis, soft tissue, gastrointestinal tract, and spleen. Only 7 cases (21%) apparently had stage I disease. The neoplastic cells were often pleomorphic, with irregular nuclei and granular chromatin, and angiocentric growth was common. The characteristic immunophenotype was CD2+ CD3/Leu4- CD3epsilon+ CD56+, and 32 cases (94%) harbored Epstein-Barr virus (EBV). Follow-up information was available in 29 cases: 24 died at a median of 3.5 months; 3 were alive with relapse at 5 months to 2.5 years; and 2 were alive and well at 3 and 5 y...Continue Reading

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