Nodal CD8 positive cytotoxic T-cell lymphoma: a distinct clinicopathological entity

We studied 11 cases of nodal cytotoxic T-cell lymphoma, which express the CD8+ phenotype and cytotoxic molecules (T-cell intracellular antigen-1, granzyme B and perforin), to characterize the clinicopathologic spectrum of these neoplasms. The 11 cases consisted of four men and seven women, aged 5 to 82 years (mean, 53 years). All cases were nodal, and eight of 11 had extranodal involvement, the most common being in bone marrow (eight cases) and liver (six cases). The expression of these cytotoxic molecules has been reported in some T/natural killer cell lymphomas mostly involved in extranodal sites of skin, nasopharyngeal region, or gastrointestinal tracts, but these types of extranodal involvement were rare in our cases. Morphologically these lymphomas could be divided into two groups. One group (n = 6) showed a diffuse large cell type and massive necrosis or apoptosis that was accompanied by disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC) or hemophagocytic syndrome (HPS) on the initial. The prognosis of this group was generally poor (survival = 1-19 months, median = 5 mo), and four of these six cases were fulminant. The other group (n = 5) showed a diffuse medium or mixed cell type, and the prognosis was not so poor (median survival = 17 mo). Our results suggest that these nodal cytotoxic T-cell lymphomas originated from activated cytotoxic T-cells and were highly accompanied with DIC or HPS.