Greetings All, I normally don't try to bother you folks with unusual cases but we have had one that I would like to share and inquire about as it has us very puzzled. We recently had a patient with a diagnosis of Hairy Cell Leukemia. His phenotype was classic HCL with the exception of CD23 positivity. The cells were strongly positive for lambda surface light chains. However, he demonstrated monoclonal kappa IgM by immunoelectrophoresis. We were concerned that an error may have occured in the immunophenotyping and requested a new specimen. Repeat analysis again demonstrated monoclonal lambda surface light chains. We then proceeded to measure cytoplasmic light chains and found the cells in question to have a cytoplasmic kappa pool as well lambda. I have two questions: 1. Has anyone ever seen this before? 2. Is it theoretically possible for leukemic cells to express one type of light chain on the surface and be synthesizing and secreting the other? Thanks, Tom
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