Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Review
  • Published:

Hematopoietic SCT for adult T-cell leukemia/lymphoma: a review

Abstract

Adult T-cell leukemia/lymphoma is a T-cell malignancy caused by the human T-cell lymphotropic virus type 1. The aggressive forms of the disease carry a poor prognosis with standard therapies. The role of high-dose treatment with blood and marrow transplantation has, therefore, been examined mainly by Japanese groups in the form of retrospective studies. In this study, we review the literature, discuss some of the challenges facing successful transplantation approaches and stress the need for more innovative studies including in the Western hemisphere.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Shuh M, Beilke M . The human T-cell leukemia virus type 1 (HTLV-1): new insights into the clinical aspects and molecular pathogenesis of adult T-cell leukemia/lymphoma (ATLL) and tropical spastic paraparesis/HTLV-associated myelopathy (TSP/HAM). Microsc Res Tech 2005; 68: 176–196.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. Proietti FA, Carneiro-Proietti AB, Catalan-Soares BC, Murphy EL . Global epidemiology of HTLV-I infection and associated diseases. Oncogene 2005; 24: 6058–6068.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. Matsuoka M . Human T-cell leukemia virus type I (HTLV-I) infection and the onset of adult T-cell leukemia (ATL). Retrovirology 2005; 2: 27.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  4. Kenji I, Kazuo T . Treatment of adult T-cell leukemia/lymphoma: past, present, and future. Eur J Haematol 2008; 80: 185–196.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Borg A, Yin JA, Johnson PR, Tosswill J, Saunders M, Morris D . Successful treatment of HTLV-1 associated acute adult T-cell leukemia lymphoma by allogeneic bone marrow transplantation. Br J Haematol 1996; 94: 713–715.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Ohshima K, Jaffe ES, Kikuchi M . Adult T-cell leukaemia/lymphoma. In: Swerdlow SH, Campo E, Harris NL, Jaffe ES, Pileri SA, Stein H, Thiele J, Vardiman JW (eds). WHO Classification of Tumours of Haematopoietic and Lymphoid Tissues. IARC: Lyon, 2008, 281–284.

    Google Scholar 

  7. Di Venuti G, Nawgiri R, Foss F . Denileukin diftitox and hyper-CVAD in the treatment of human T-cell lymphotropic virus 1-associated acute T-cell leukemia/lymphoma. Clin Lymphoma 2003; 4: 176–178.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. Ratner L . Pathogenesis and treatment of human T-cell leukemia virus infection. Immunol Res 2005; 32: 217–223.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  9. Johnson JM, Harrod R, Franchini G . Molecular biology and pathogenesis of the human T-cell leukaemia/lymphotropic virus Type-1 (HTLV-1). Int J Exp Pathol. 2001; 82: 135–147.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  10. Carneiro-Proietti AB, Catalan-Soares BC, Castro-Costa CM, Murphy E, Sabino E, Hisada M et al. HTLV in the Americas: challenges and perspectives. Rev Panam Salud Publica 2006; 19: 44–53.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  11. Yashiki S, Fujiyoshi T, Arima N, Osame M, Yoshinaga M, Nagata Y et al. HLA-A26, HLA-B4002, HLA-B4006, and HLA-B4801 alleles predispose to adult T cell leukemia: the limited recognition of HTLV type 1 Tax peptide anchor motifs and epitopes to generate anti-HTLV type 1 Tax CD8+ cytotoxic T lymphocytes. AIDS Res Hum Retroviruses 2001; 17: 1047–1061.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  12. Yasunaga J, Matsuoka M . Human T-cell leukemia virus type I induces adult T-cell leukemia: from clinical aspects to molecular mechanisms. Cancer Control 2007; 14: 133–140.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  13. Ratner L . Adult T cell leukemia lymphoma. Front Biosci. 2004; 1: 2852–2859.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. van Zaanen HC, Pegels JG . Adult T-cell leukaemia and lymphoma: report of two cases and a brief review of the literature. Neth J Med 2002; 60: 330–333.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  15. Ohshima K . Pathological features of diseases associated with human T-cell leukemia virus type I. Cancer Sci 2007; 98: 772–778.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  16. Tsukasaki K, Utsunomiya A, Fukuda H, Shibata T, Fukushima T, Takatsuka Y et al. VCAP-AMP-VECP compared with biweekly CHOP for adult T-cell leukemia-lymphoma: Japan Clinical Oncology Group Study JCOG9801. J Clin Oncol 2007; 25: 5458–5464.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  17. Hermine O, Allard I, Levy V, Arnulf B, Gessain A, Bazarbachi A et al. A prospective phase II clinical trial with the use of zidovudine and interferon-alpha in the acute and lymphoma forms of adult T-cell leukemia/lymphoma. Hematol J 2002; 3: 276–282.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  18. Mone A, Puhalla S, Whitman S, Baiocchi R, Cruz J, Vukosavljevic T et al. Durable hematologic complete response and suppression of HTLV-1 viral load following alemtuzumab in zidovudine/IFN-{alpha}-refractory adult T-cell leukemia. Blood 2005; 106: 3380–3382.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  19. Hermine O, Dombret H, Poupon J, Arnulf B, Lefrere F, Rousselot P et al. Phase II trial of arsenic trioxide and alpha interferon in patients with relapsed/refractory adult T-cell leukemia/lymphoma. Hematol J 2004; 5: 130–134.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  20. Evens AM, Ziegler SL, Gupta R, Augustyniak C, Gordon LI, Mehta J et al. Sustained hematologic and central nervous system remission with single-agent denileukin diftitox in refractory adult T-cell leukemia/lymphoma. Clin Lymphoma Myeloma 2007; 7: 472–474.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  21. Ravandi F, Faderl S . Complete response in a patient with adult T-cell leukemia (ATL) treated with combination of alemtuzumab and pentostatin. Leuk Res 2006; 30: 103–105.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  22. Tsukasaki K, Maeda T, Arimura K, Taguchi J, Fukushima T, Miyazaki Y et al. Poor outcome of autologous stem cell transplantation for adult T cell leukemia/lymphoma: a case report and review of the literature. Bone Marrow Transplant 1999; 23: 87–89.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  23. Sobue R, Yamauchim T, Miyamura K, Sao H, Tahara T, Yoshikawa S et al. Treatment of adult T cell leukemia with mega-dose cyclophosphamide and total body irradiation followed by allogeneic bone marrow transplantation. Bone Marrow Transplant 1987; 2: 441–444.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  24. Tamaki H, Matsuoka M . Donor-derived T-cell leukemia after bone marrow transplantation. N Engl J Med 2006; 355: 1758–1759.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Fukushima T, Miyazaki Y, Honda S, Kawano F, Moriuchi Y, Masuda M et al. Allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation provides sustained long-term survival for patients with adult T-cell leukemia/lymphoma. Leukemia 2005; 19: 829–834.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  26. Matsushishi K, Arima N, Ohtsubo H, Fujiwara H, Hidaka S, Kukita T et al. Granulocyte-colony stimulating factor-induced proliferation of primary adult T-cell leukemia cells. Br J Haematol. 1997; 96: 715–723.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. Utsunomiya A, Miyazaki Y, Takatsuka Y, Hanada S, Uozumi K, Yashiki S et al. Improved outcome of adult T cell leukemia/ lymphoma with allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. Bone Marrow Transplant 2001; 27: 15–20.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  28. Okamura J, Utsunomiya A, Tanosaki R, Uike N, Sonoda S, Kannagi M et al. Allogeneic stem-cell transplantation with reduced conditioning intensity as a novel immunotherapy and antiviral therapy for adult T-cell leukemia/lymphoma. Blood 2005; 105: 4143–4145.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  29. Tanosaki R, Uike N, Utsunomiya A, Saburi Y, Masuda M, Tomonaga M et al. Allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation using reduced-intensity conditioning for adult T cell leukemia/lymphoma: impact of antithymocyte globulin on clinical outcome. Biol Blood Marrow Transplant 2008; 14: 702–708.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  30. Yonekura K, Utsunomiya A, Takatsuka Y, Takeuchi S, Tashiro Y, Kanzaki T et al. Graft-versus-adult T cell leukemia/lymphoma effect following allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. Bone Marrow Transplant 2008; 41: 1029–1035.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  31. Kato K, Kanda Y, Eto T, Muta T, Gondo H, Taniguchi S et al. Allogeneic bone marrow transplantation from unrelated human T-cell leukemia virus-I–negative donors for adult T-cell leukemia/lymphoma: retrospective analysis of data from the japan marrow donor program. Biol Blood Marrow Transplant 2007; 13: 90–99.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  32. Shiratori S, Yasumoto A, Tanaka J, Shigematsu A, Yamamoto S, Nishio M et al. Retrospective analysis of allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation for adult T cell leukemia/lymphoma (ATL): clinical impact of graft-versus-leukemia/lymphoma effect. Biol Blood Marrow Transplant 2008; 14: 817–823.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  33. Kami M, Hamaki T, Miyakoshi S, Murashige N, Kanda Y, Tanosaki R et al. Allogeneic haematopoietic stem cell transplantation for the treatment of adult T-cell leukemia/lymphoma. Br J Haematol 2003; 120: 304–309.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  34. Miyamura F, Kako S, Yamagami H, Sato K, Terasako K, Kimura S et al. Successful treatment of young-onset adult T cell leukemia/lymphoma and preceding chronic refractory eczema and corneal injury by allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. Int J Hematol. 2009; 90: 397–401.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  35. Nakase K, Hara M, Kozuka T, Tanimoto K, Nawa Y . Bone marrow transplantation from unrelated donor for patients with adult T-cell leukemia/lymphoma. Bone Marrow Transplant 2006; 37: 41–44.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  36. Obama K, Tara M, Sao H, Taji H, Morishima Y, Mougi H et al. Allogeneic bone marrow transplantation as a treatment for adult T-cell Leukemia. Int J Hematol 1999; 69: 203–205.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  37. Ogata M, Ogata Y, Imamura T, Ohtsuka E, Kikuchi H, Utsunomiya A et al. Successful bone marrow transplant from an unrelated donor in patient with adult T cell leukemia. Bone Marrow Transplant 2002; 30: 699–701.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  38. Tajima K, Amakawa R, Uehira K, Matsumoto N, Shimizu T, Miyazaki Y et al. Adult T-cell leukemia successfully treated with allogeneic bone marrow transplantation. Int J Hematol 2000; 71: 290–293.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We thank Dr Shuichi Taniguchi and Dr Koji Kato for their input, and Miss Priscilla DaSilva for her secretarial assistance.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to A S Al-Homsi.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Jabbour, M., Tuncer, H., Castillo, J. et al. Hematopoietic SCT for adult T-cell leukemia/lymphoma: a review. Bone Marrow Transplant 46, 1039–1044 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/bmt.2011.27

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/bmt.2011.27

Keywords

Search

Quick links