Haemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis in association with granular lymphocyte proliferative disorders in early childhood: characteristic bone marrow morphology |
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Authors: | SHINSAKU IMASHUKU SHIGEYOSHI HIBI SHINGO MORINAGA KAZUTAKA TAKAGI JIMING CHEN HIDEO MUGISHIMA TAKEFUMI ISHII MASAHIRO SAKO HIROKAZU ARAKAWA & MASAHIKO KATO |
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Institution: | Division of Paediatrics, Children's Research Hospital, Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine, Kyoto;; Department of Paediatrics, National Kumamoto Hospital, Kumamoto;; Department of Paediatrics, Nihon University School of Medicine, Tokyo;; Division of Paediatrics, Osaka General Hospital, Osaka; Department of Paediatrics, Gunma University School of Meicine, Gunma, Japan |
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Abstract: | Five paediatric cases of haemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH) which showed proliferation of granular atypical lymphocytoid cells in bone marrow are reported. All cases were girls aged 8 months to 4 years who had marked hepatosplenomegaly. Marker analysis on peripheral blood mononuclear cells revealed an increase in the CD3+HLADR+ subset in three cases and the CD3?CD56+ subset in one case. An Epstein-Barr virus genome was detected in three cases, and monoclonality was confirmed in two cases. A characteristic morphology of large granular lymphocytes (LGL) was identified, with elongated bizarre features that resembled horsetail-, tadpole-, cucumber- or shooting star-type configurations on the bone marrow smear. Serum concentrations of soluble interleukin-2 receptor and interferon-gamma were elevated in all cases. All five cases required multi-agent chemotherapy which resulted in two complete remissions, two partial remissions and one no response. Refinement of treatment is required for these paediatric GLPD cases which probably comprise a specific high-risk subgroup among secondary HLH patients which had previously escaped notice. |
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Keywords: | haemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis large granular lymphocyte proliferative disorders cytokine natural killer activity clonal disease |
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