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Objectives: Common Variable Immunodeficiency Disorders (CVID) and Large Granular Lymphocytes leukemia (LGLL) exhibit diverse clinical manifestations including infections, dysimmunity, and lymphoproliferation. Recent decades have seen the discovery of new genes in the lymphopoiesis pathway, such as JAK–STAT. This case series supplemented by a literature review aims to describe clinical and biological characteristics of patients with both CIVD and LGLL. Methodology: Patients were included through a call for comments to French and Belgian centers and through a literature review via PubMed. Clinical characteristics were compared to two large French cohort involving CVID and LGLL patients. Results: Twelve patients were included. In all cases, CVID precedes LLGL (median diagnosis delay for LLGL was 7 years). Most cases presented with splenomegaly and autoimmune cytopenia. Ten out of 12 patients underwent splenectomy during follow up. Conclusions: Patients with LGLL and CVID differ from patients without immune deficiency in term of clinical presentation and prognosis. We suggest CVID may act as a trigger of LGL lymphocytosis, due to endogenous and exogenous antigenic pressure leading to the selection of a dominant LGL clone and stimulation of the JAK–STAT pathway. The role of splenomegaly and splenectomy in LGLL onset warrant further investigation in future studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Large granular lymphocytes (LGL) leukemias are commonly of the T-cell or NK-cell type. T-cell LGL leukemia is typically a disorder of mature CD3, CD8 and T-cell receptor TCR (TCR - T cell receptor)-αβ positive cytotoxic T-cells. Rare variants include TCRγδ+ variants and CD4 + TCRαβ+ cases. We report a case of each of these rare variants. An 83-year-old female presented with anemia and lymphocytosis with LGLs on peripheral smear. Six-color multiparametric flowcytometric analysis showed expression of CD3, heterogeneous CD7, dim CD2 and TCRγδ and lacked expression of CD5, TCRαβ, CD56, CD4 and CD8. A final diagnosis of TCRγδ+ T-cell LGL leukemia was made. Differentiation between TCRγδ+ T-cell LGL leukemia and other γδ+ T-cell malignancies is of utmost importance due to the indolent nature of the former as compared to the highly aggressive behavior of the latter. An 85-year-old male diagnosed with liposarcoma was identified to have lymphocytosis during preoperative evaluation. Peripheral smear showed presence of LGLs. Flowcytometric immunophenotyping showed expression of TCRαβ, CD3, CD2, CD5, CD4, dim CD8, CD56 with aberrant loss of CD7 expression. Vβ repertoire analysis by flowcytometry showed 97% cells with Vβ14 clonality. A final diagnosis of TCRαβ+ CD4 + T-cell LGL leukemia was made. CD4 + T-cell large granular lymphocytic leukemias have an indolent, less aggressive course when compared to their CD8 + counterparts and are not necessarily associated with cytopenias. However, their association with secondary neoplasia (29% of the cases) warrants a high degree of suspicion in the diagnosis as also noted in the index case. Use of a wide panel of antibodies and newer modalities such as Vβ repertoire analysis helps in accurate subtyping of LGL leukemia.

Objective. Pts with chronic clonal proliferation of large granular lymphocytes (LGL leukemia) often have neutropenia, splenomegaly, and rheumatoid arthritis (RA), thereby resembling the manifestations observed in pts with Felty’s syndrome. The present study sought to indicate that pts with these disorders represent two distinct subsets. We compare clinical, hematological, immunophenotiping and immunogenetic features in Felty’s syndrome pts with and without the LGL leukemia. Material and methods 10 pts with T-LGL leukemia were studied. Surface phenotype was estimated using monoclonal antibodies CD8-PE and CD3-FITC/CD16-PE (two-color) (Caltag, USA) by the flow cytometric analysis (Partec, Daco). Analysis of TCR gene rearrangement was performed by using PCR-LIS SSCP (low ionic strength single strand conformational polymorphism). Comparison with Felty s syndrome and RA pts based on the review of literature. Results. LGL leukemia is a distinct clinicopathologic entity often associated with RA. LGL leukemia pts with RA showed the same immunogenetis associations seen in RA/Felty’s syndrome, while LGL leukemia pts without arthritis did not. Conclusion. Hematologic, immunophenotyping and molecular genetic analysis are very important and highly representative tools in differential diagnosis of neutropenia in RA, and propose that Felty’s syndrome and LGL leukemia represent different variants of broader syndrome comprising RA, neutropenia, LGL expansions, and splenomegaly.

Large granular lymphocyte leukemia is a rare entity belonging to same spectrum of diseases than Felty's syndrome, which might occur in patients with long-standing rheumatoid arthritis. It is clinically characterized by persistent neutropenia and recurrent bacterial infections associated with the presence in both peripheral blood and bone marrow of clonal expansion of atypic lymphocytes with a cytotoxic T cell phenotype, or less frequently an NK-cell phenotype, as well as splenomegaly. It is more frequently diagnosed in seropositive rheumatoid arthritis, with significant structural damage, extra-articular manifestations and persistently elevated values of ESR, despite them having low inflammatory joint activity. We report the case of a 70-year-old male with a long-standing rheumatoid arthritis, who developed septic shock secondary to prosthetic hip infection by Salmonella spp. He showed persistent neutropenia, and an aberrant monoclonal T cell population was detected in both peripheral blood and bone marrow, consistent with large granular lymphocyte leukemia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]