Hepatosplenic T-cell lymphoma: A case series

Hepatosplenic T-cell lymphoma (HSTCL) is a rare type of Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma (NHL), grouped under the mature or peripheral T-cell lymphomas. It is characterised by extranodal infiltration and proliferation of malignant T-cells within the sinusoids of the liver, sinuses and red pulp of the spleen, and the bone marrow. The tumour cells express CD2 and CD3, but are CD4, CD5 and CD8 negative and express a clonally restricted gamma-delta (or less commonly alpha-beta) T-cell receptor. The disease has an aggressive clinical course associated with a poor prognosis. We highlight and report three patients from South Africa with HSTCL, all of whom had hepatosplenomegaly and cytopaenias, and despite being HIV seronegative and immunocompetent, had a poor outcome, with a mean survival of 7.5 months in the two evaluable patients. This rare entity has not previously been reported from South Africa and as yet needs to be adequately characterised in a population where lymphoma is the most common haematological malignancy in adults, and where approximately two thirds of the adult lymphoma population are HIV seropositive.