Distinct Patterns Of Genomic Alterations In Adult T-Cell Leukemia-Lymphoma Endemic In The Western World

Introduction: Acute T-cell leukemia/lymphoma (ATLL) is a highly aggressive malignancy caused by HTLV-I, which is endemic in Japan, the Caribbean, and South America. ATLL carries a dismal prognosis and is generally incurable with conventional chemotherapy. ATLL is challenging to study at the molecular level, in part due to its complex genetic alterations likely resulting from years of HTLV-I driven T-cell proliferation and accumulation of genetic damage prior to malignant transformation. While no specific chromosome or genetic abnormalities have been proven to contribute to the pathogenesis of ATLL, older comparative genomic hybridization (CGH) studies performed in Japanese patients have demonstrated frequent genetic lesions (gains and losses) involving specific chromosomal regions, thus limited information exists about the chromosomal abnormalities occurring in the African ATLL variant commonly seen in the Western World.