CASE PRESENTATION: A 59-year-old man of Chinese ethnicity presented to our hematology unit with headache, lethargy, and exertional dyspnea for the past 1 month. He underwent an uneventful cadaveric renal transplant 20 years ago for chronic glomerulonephritis-induced end-stage renal disease. He had been on long-term immunosuppressants since then consisting of orally administered prednisolone 10 mg daily and orally administered cyclosporine A 50 mg twice daily. On examination, he was pale with a palpable liver and spleen. He had a functioning renal graft. Marrow flow cytometry confirmed T-prolymphocytic leukemia with lymphocytes expressing CD2, CD3, CD7, CD52, and TCL-1. His human T-cell lymphotropic virus and Epstein-Barr virus serology and deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) were negative. He was treated with one cycle of cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, and prednisone chemotherapy to which he failed to respond. In view of his renal allograft, he was not suitable for alemtuzumab due to the risk of nephrotoxicity. He was given orally administered venetoclax but he died on day 17 due to severe auto tumor lysis syndrome.
CONCLUSION: The place of immunophenotyping in the diagnosis and treatment of this disorder is of significant importance. More research needs to be carried out to further comprehend the pathophysiology and treatment modalities for this disorder.
Methods: We conducted a retrospective review of 70 patients with LPD (35 with lymphoma and 35 with multiple myeloma) who had undergone APBSCT between January 2008 and December 2016. Data obtained included disease type, treatment, and stem cell characteristics. Kaplan-Meier analysis was performed for probabilities of neutrophil and platelet engraftment occurred and was compared by the log-rank test. The multivariate Cox proportional hazards regression model was used for the analysis of potential independent factors influencing engraftment. A p-value < 0.050 was considered statistically significant.
Results: Most patients were ethnic Malay, the median age at transplantation was 49.5 years. Neutrophil and platelet engraftment occurred in a median time of 18 (range 4-65) and 17 (range 6-66) days, respectively. The majority of patients showed engraftment with 65 (92.9%) and 63 (90.0%) showing neutrophil and platelet engraftment, respectively. We observed significant differences between neutrophil engraftment and patient's weight (< 60/≥ 60 kg), stage of disease at diagnosis, number of previous chemotherapy cycles (< 8/≥ 8), and pre-transplant radiotherapy. While for platelet engraftment, we found significant differences with gender, patient's weight (< 60/≥ 60 kg), pre-transplant radiotherapy, and CD34+ dosage (< 5.0/≥ 5.0 × 106/kg and < 7.0/≥ 7.0 × 106/kg). The stage of disease at diagnosis (p = 0.012) and pre-transplant radiotherapy (p = 0.025) were found to be independent factors for neutrophil engraftment whereas patient's weight (< 60/≥ 60 kg, p = 0.017), age at transplantation (< 50/≥ 50 years, p = 0.038), and CD34+ dosage (< 7.0/≥ 7.0 × 106/kg, p = 0.002) were found to be independent factors for platelet engraftment.
Conclusions: Patients with LPD who presented at an early stage and with no history of radiotherapy had faster neutrophil engraftment after APBSCT, while a younger age at transplantation with a higher dose of CD34+ cells may predict faster platelet engraftment. However, additional studies are necessary for better understanding of engraftment kinetics to improve the success of APBSCT.