hairy cell leukemia

mann0002@mc.duke.edu
Tue, 31 Dec 1996 09:36 -0500 (EST)

I received peripheral blood for immunophenotyping for a question of hairy cell
leukemia. (The patient is an elderly male with splenomegaly and circulating
"hairy cells".) There is bright expression of the pan B cell markers CD19, CD20
and CD22 as well as lambda light chain. The cells are negative for CD5 and CD10.
Although there is expression of CD103, the cells are negative for CD11c and
CD25. The cells are reportedly TRAP negative.

I know that some people consider staining for CD103 highly specific for hairy
cells, but the absence of CD11c is very worrisome to me. What other B cell
neoplasms have you found to be CD103 positive? Would anyone consider a
diagnosis of hairy cell leukemia in the absence of staining for CD11c.

Karen Mann