Clinical Information

Sezary syndrome (SS) and mycosis fungoides (MF) are two distinct but intimately related T-cell lymphoproliferative disorders involving the skin and are commonly referred to as cutaneous T-cell lymphomas (CTCLs). SS is defined by the triad of erythroderma, generalized lymphadenopathy, and the presence of circulating cells with irregular nuclear features (Sezary cells). MF typically presents with slowly progressing patch and plaque lesions. Detection of neoplastic CD4-positive T cells in peripheral blood (>1000 cells/microliter) is essential to establish a diagnosis of SS. Disease staging and assessment of therapy response in CTCL require a quantitative assessment of peripheral blood involvement in absolute number of neoplastic cells (Sezary cells) per microliter. Flow cytometry is now considered the method of choice to estimate the number of Sezary cells in peripheral blood, largely replacing the less reproducible and time-consuming morphologic quantitation of atypical lymphocytes on a peripheral blood smear, proposed by the International Society for Cutaneous Lymphomas, and the cutaneous lymphoma task force of the European Organization of Research and Treatment of Cancer. Typically, Sezary cells are immunophenotypically distinct and they are clonal.