Bay Biosciences provides high-quality biopsy tissue samples, formalin fixed paraffin embedded (FFPE) tissue blocks, with matched fresh frozen sera (serum), plasma, and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) bio-fluids, from patients diagnosed with cutaneous T-cell lymphoma.
The sera (serum), plasma and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) biofluid specimens are processed from patients peripheral whole-blood using customized collection and processing protocols from cutaneous T-cell lymphoma.
Fresh frozen tissue and matched biofluid samples were, collected from unique patients diagnosed with cutaneous T-cell lymphoma.
Bio-samples are provided to a valued pharmaceutical customer for research, diagnostics, discovery, and drug development.
Cutaneous T-Cell Lymphoma Overview
Cutaneous T-cell lymphoma is a blanket term for a group of blood cancers that target white blood cells and produce rashes on the skin. They are linked together because they all start in the white blood cells known as T cells.
The two most common types of cutaneous T-cell lymphoma are myocosis fungoides and Sezary syndrome.
Although CTCL’s can occur at any age, the risk increases with age. Most patients receive a diagnosis between the ages of 50 and 60, and males are twice as likely as females to develop CTCL.
These cancers are rare, with around 3,000 new diagnoses a year in the United States.
Cutaneous T-cell lymphoma (CTCL) is a type of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL), meaning it is a cancer of the white blood cells. There are two main types of white blood cell: T cells and B cells.
White blood cells, or lymphocytes, play an important role in fighting infections and travel all around the body in the lymphatic system. CTCLs occur when something disrupts the production of T cells, a large percentage of which are in the skin, and the cells become damaged. These damaged cells continue to multiply at an uncontrolled rate and build up in the skin.
Types of Cutaneous T-Cell Lymphoma
The two most common types of CTCL are mycosis fungoides (MF) and Sezary syndrome (SS). Together, these make up about 75% of CTCL diagnoses.
MF is the most common, and is a slow-growing, or indolent form that can remain just as a rash for years.
SS tends to be more aggressive and spreads more quickly beyond the skin into the blood, lymph nodes, and sometimes organs.
Other, rarer types include:
- Lymphomatoid papulosis
- Pagetoid reticulosis, which is also known as Woringer-Kolopp disease
- Primary cutaneous anaplastic large cell lymphomas
- Subcutaneous panniculitic T-cell lymphoma
Signs and Symptoms of Cutaneous T-Cell Lymphoma
Following are some of the signs and symptoms of CTCL:
Damaged T cells build up in the skin, forming dry patches and skin rashes. Sometimes, so many damaged cells build up that they form raised patches, or plaques. These skin rashes can be extremely itchy.
Usually with mycosis fungoides (MF), the rash develops on an area of skin that is not often exposed to sunlight, such as the buttocks, top of the thigh, feet, or chest area. As this is a slow-growing cancer, it can remain at this stage for years or decades. If it does spread, the patient may develop light spots on their skin, raised plaques, and tumors.
Rashes with Sezary syndrome (SS) tend to be widespread and peel. SS rashes are typically intensely itchy and can cause flushed skin.
Other symptoms of SS include:
- Changes to the eyelids, such as drooping of the lower lid
- Hair loss
- Nail disorders
- Thickened skin on the palms of the hands and soles of the feet
Other Symptoms
In about 10% of patients with mycosis fungoides (MF), the cancerous cells spread, and may affect major organs in the body, including the liver, spleen, or gastrointestinal system.
Sezary syndrome (SS) is more aggressive than mycosis fungoides (MF) and spreads more quickly.
Symptoms will vary depending on where the cells have spread. This is why it is vital to contact a doctor if a patient develops a rash that could be due to CTCL.
Mental Health
Not all symptoms of CTCL are physical. Studies show that even in the early stages, people struggle with how having a rash impacts their quality of life. Many might be unhappy with its appearance and change how they dress to cover it up. Others may say they feel depressed or ashamed of the rash.
If the symptoms of CTCL are negatively impacting a patients mental health, they should talk to a doctor. Researchers are exploring ways to incorporate this into treatment plans.
Stages of Cutaneous T-Cell Lymphoma
The outlook for treatment depends on how far advanced the condition is when a person has received a diagnosis, and whether or not it has spread.
Doctors use the same four-point staging system for both mycosis fungoides (MF) and sezary syndrome (SS), taking into account the following factors:
- T for tumor: This shows how much of the skin is affected by the lymphoma.
- N for nodes: This identify the lymphoma is in the the lymph nodes
- M for metastasis: This shows if the lymphoma spread to other organs
- B for blood: This shoes if the lymphoma cells are in the blood.
Diagnosis of Cutaneous T-Cell Lymphoma
Doctors diagnose CTCL by thoroughly examining the skin, then running an array of tests, including:
- Blood tests
- Biopsies for the skin and possibly lymph nodes
- Full body CT Scans
Patients with sezary syndrome (SS) may also need a bone marrow biopsy to confirm how far advanced their cancer is.
Treatment of Cutaneous T-Cell Lymphoma
Treatment plans for CTCL can differ depending on what symptoms a person has, their general health, and the stage of the cancer.
Skin Treatments
Some treatments target the skin and are called skin directed treatments or topical treatments. Patients who receive an mycosis fungoides (MF) diagnosis at an early stage may experience long-lasting relief from their symptoms from skin-directed treatments.
Skin-directed treatments include creams or lotions that are applied topically. These may contain steroids, retinoids, or chemotherapy drugs.
Ultraviolet light treatments, including Psoralen and ultraviolet A (PUVA) and narrowband ultraviolet B can also be effective. Trials have shown an 80–90% complete remission when a patient receives this treatment in the early stages.
Doctors may also prescribe courses of radiation therapy.
Systemic Treatments
If the CTCL has spread beyond the skin, people may need whole-body, systemic treatments. As the cancer has spread to the blood, people with SS usually start their treatment with a combination of the two.
Doctors often recommend systemic treatments alongside skin-directed ones. They may include:
- Biologics or immunotherapy
- Chemotherapy
- Extracorporeal photopheresis
- Oral retinoids, such as Targretin (bexarotene)
- Stem cell transplants
Doctors may prescribe any one of these treatments on their own or in combination of the above.
Bay Biosciences is a global leader in providing researchers with high quality, clinical grade, fully characterized human tissue samples, bio-specimens, and human bio-fluid collections.
Samples available include cancer (tumor) tissue, cancer serum, cancer plasma, cancer, peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC). and human tissue samples from most other therapeutic areas and diseases.
Bay Biosciences maintains and manages its own biorepository, the human tissue bank (biobank) consisting of thousands of diseased samples (specimens) and from normal healthy donors available in all formats and types.
Our biobank procures and stores fully consented, deidentified and institutional review boards (IRB) approved human tissue samples and matched controls.
All our human tissue collections, human specimens and human bio-fluids are provided with detailed, samples associated patient’s clinical data.
This critical patient’s clinical data includes information relating to their past and current disease, treatment history, lifestyle choices, biomarkers, and genetic information.
Patient’s data is extremely valuable for researchers and is used to help identify new effective treatments (drug discovery & development) in oncology, and other therapeutic areas and diseases.
Bay Biosciences banks wide variety of human tissue samples and biological samples, including cryogenically preserved at – 80°C.
Including fresh frozen tissue samples, tumor tissue samples, formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE), tissue slides, with matching human bio-fluids, whole blood and blood-derived products such as serum, plasma and PBMC.
Bay Biosciences is a global leader in collecting and providing human tissue samples according to the specified requirements and customized, tailor-made collection protocols.
Please contact us anytime to discuss your special research projects and customized human tissue sample requirements.
Bay Biosciences provides human tissue samples (human specimens) from diseased and normal healthy donors which includes:
- Peripheral whole-blood
- Amniotic fluid
- Bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BAL)
- Sputum
- Pleural effusion
- Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF)
- Serum (sera)
- Plasma
- Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC)
- Saliva
- Buffy coat
- Urine
- Stool samples
- Aqueous humor
- Vitreous humor
- Kidney stones (renal calculi)
- Other bodily fluids from most diseases including cancer.
We can also procure most human bio-specimens, special collections and requests for human samples that are difficult to find. All our human tissue samples are procured through IRB-approved clinical protocols and procedures.
In addition to the standard processing protocols, Bay Biosciences can also provide human plasma, serum, and PBMC bio-fluid samples using custom processing protocols; you buy donor-specific collections in higher volumes and specified sample aliquots from us.
Bay Biosciences also provides human samples from normal healthy donors; volunteers, for controls and clinical research, contact us Now.
日本のお客様は、ベイバイオサイエンスジャパンBay Biosciences Japanまたはhttp://baybiosciences-jp.com/contact/までご連絡ください。