Lymphoma of cytotoxic/suppressor T cell phenotype (T8) following angioimmunoblastic lymphadenopathy

A patient with angioimmunoblastic lymphadenopathy was treated with chemotherapy to complete remission for 13 years. A single relapse, self-limited, occurred followed 2 years later by the appearance of a disseminated non-Hodgkin's lymphoma with prominent cutaneous lesions and hypogammaglobulinemia. Cells from the peripheral blood and an affected lymph node were characterized by immunologic studies as deriving from the T8 subset of lymphocytes, suggesting a functional relationship between these suppressor cells and the patient's clinical manifestations.