[Adult T-cell leukemia associated with pure red cell aplasia-like lesion]

An adult T cell leukemia associated with pure red cell aplasia-like lesion was described in this paper. A 51 year-old woman was admitted because of headache and palpitation in October 1988. On admission, physical examination showed marked pallor but no detectable superficial lymphadenopathies. Hepatosplenomegaly was not observed. The blood examination revealed normocytic anemia with Hb of 6.6 g/dl and marked leukocytosis of 18,800/microliters with 43% ATL cells. The bone marrow aspirate showed moderate infiltration of ATL cells and a few erythroblasts. The bone marrow biopsy disclosed moderate infiltration of ATL cells, only a few erythroblasts with maturation arrest and marked fibrosis. The erythropoietin in serum was elevated (686 IU/microliters). To clarify the mechanism of development of the PRCA-like lesion, the peripheral blood lymphocytes (ATL cells) or serum of the patient was added to in vitro erythroid colony formation. The patient's serum increased BFU-E but either serum or lymphocytes didn't inhibit the growth of CFU-E compared with control.