Clinical Utility of Flow Cytometry Immunophenotyping and Hematological Profile in Chronic Lymphoproliferative Disorders

Background: Chronic lymphoproliferative disorders (CLPD) are a group of lymphatic malignancies characterized by proliferation of neoplastic mature lymphocytes, and may be sourced B, T and natural killer cells (NK). Flow cytometric (FC) immunophenotyping is a routine practice in the differential diagnosis of these tumors, contributing to greater accuracy and new therapeutic perspectives. Methods: Patients (n = 500) with CLPD were assessed by FC. In addition, we gathered patient information such as age, sex and hematologic data. Results: The results showed that 86.6% of cases were B-cell and 13.4% T/NK CLPD. B-cell CLPD distribution was as follows: 265 B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia, 17 B-cell prolymphocytic leukemia, 11 hairy cell leukemia, 3 follicular lymphoma in leukemic phase, 3 splenic lymphoma with villous lymphocytes, 12 mantle cell lymphoma, one Waldenstrong macroglobulinemia, 47 multiple myeloma, 12 plasma cell leukemia, 9 Burkitt lymphoma and 37 B-cell CLPD with non-specific immunoclassification. The T/NK CLPD classifications were as follows: 11 large granular lymphocyte leukemia, 14 T-cell prolymphocytic leukemia, 10 adult T-cell leukemia lymphoma, 8 Sézary syndrome and 24 T-cell peripheral lymphoma. Conclusion: The data suggest that immunophenotyping is an important method in diagnosis, monitoring and prognosis when determining the pathological mechanisms of CLPD evolution.