Virus-Bearing Plasma Cells in Peripheral Blood of a Patient with ‘Hairy Cell’ Leukemia

Abstract

Electron-microscopic examination of peripheral blood from a patient with ‘hairy cell’ leukemia revealed classical ‘hairy cells’, atypical lymphoid cells and numerous pathological plasma cells. Osmiophilic granular material coated the cell surface of ‘hairy cells’ and lymphoid cells but not the plasmalemma of the plasma cells. The most important features of the plasma cells were cytoplasmic protrusions and masses of oncogenic virus A particles in their endoplasmic reticular cisternae.

Occurrence of Plasmocytoid Cells in Long-Term Blood-Cell Cultures from a Patient with ‘Hairy Cell’ Leukemia

“…In a previous paper, we reported a case of 'hairy cell' leukemia with the typical cell type and pathological plasma cells in the peripheral blood [13]. We assume that the simultaneous oc currence of the two cell types in both conditions -in the peripheral blood and after prolongated in vitro culture -is not incidental.…”

Hairy-cell leukaemia: an immunoperoxidase study of paraffin-embedded tissues.

“…In contrast to chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL)-a closely related B-cell disorder-HCL is not usually associated with depressed levels of serum immunoglobulin (Golomb et al, 1978;Turner and Kjeldsberg, 1978), and plasma cells are frequently conspicuous (Pedio et al, 1975;Nanba et al, 1977;Braylan et al, 1978;Palutke et al, 1978). In the present study, the hairy cells and plasma cells in formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissue are examined by the peroxidase-antiperoxidase Received for publication 28 June 1979 (PAP) technique in order to determine whether hairy cells can be shown to contain immunoglobulin by this technique, and to establish whether or not the plasma cells show restricted light expression and thus monoclonal involvement.…”