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T-Cell Lymphoma Samples

by | Dec 19, 2022 | News Releases | 0 comments

Bay Biosciences provides high quality, clinical grade, tumor tissue samples, FFPE blocks with matched cryogenically preserved K2EDTA plasma, sera (serum) and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) biofluid samples from T-cell lymphoma patients.

The K2EDTA plasma, sera (serum) and PBMC biofluid specimens are processed from T-cell lymphoma patient’s peripheral whole-blood using customized collection and processing protocols.

T-cell lymphoma tissue blocks and matched biofluid samples are collected from unique patients diagnosed with lymphoma and are provided to a valued pharmaceutical customer for research, diagnostics, discovery and drug development.

T-Cell Lymphoma Overview

The immune system produces immune cells that travel through the lymphatic system to fight off infections and diseases. T-cell lymphoma is a type of blood cancer that affects specific immune cells called T-lymphocytes.

T-cell lymphoma starts in lymphoid tissues, which include the lymph nodes, spleen, tonsils, and digestive, or gastrointestinal, tract.

It is a relatively rare disease, accounting for less than 15% of non-Hodgkin lymphomas in the United States.


Types of T-Cell Lymphoma

T-cell lymphoma is an umbrella term for cancers affecting T-cells. T-cell lymphoma can develop from precursor or immature cells (blasts) or mature cells.


T-Lymphoblastic Lymphoma

This type of lymphoma affects immature forms of T-cells and constitutes 1% of all lymphomas. It is a fast-growing cancer that tends to affect younger individuals and males.


Peripheral T-cell lymphoma (PTCL)

More modern classifications refer to PTCL as mature T-cell lymphoma (MTCL), as it affects mature forms of T cells.

The 2016 World Health Organization (WHO) classification of tumors of hematopoietic and lymphoid tissues lists 29 types of PTCL.

These include the following:

  • Peripheral T-cell lymphoma not otherwise specified (PTCL-NOS): This is the most common subtype of PTCL, and it includes all PTCLs that do not fit the other groups. It usually affects older adults and tends to spread and grow quickly.
  • Anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALCL): This typically fast-growing type of lymphoma represents 2% of all lymphomas. It is more common in young people, including children. ALCL tends to respond well to treatment and has three different forms.
  • Angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma (AITL): This type makes up about 4% of all lymphomas and is more common in older adults. People with AITL may have spleen and liver enlargement, and they may lose weight. They also tend to develop fever, infections and skin rashes.
  • Extranodal natural killer (NK)/T-cell, nasal type: This rare type mostly affects the nose and throat, but it may also affect other parts of the body, such as the digestive tract and the skin.
  • Enteropathy-associated intestinal T-cell lymphoma (EATL): This type typically appears in the small intestine. It is common among people who develop celiac disease as adults and is more likely to affect males than females.
  • Cutaneous T-cell lymphoma (CTCL): This type of lymphoma starts in the skin and makes up about 5% of all lymphomas. Common types include Sézary syndrome and mycosis fungoides.
  • Adult T-cell leukemia/lymphoma: This disease occurs as a result of the human T-lymphotropic virus type 1 (HTLV-1), which can transmit in bodily fluids, such as blood and semen. It is common in Japan and the Caribbean islands but rare in the U.S.


Signs and Symptoms of T-cell Lymphoma

T-cell lymphoma has a vast range of signs and symptoms, which vary among the different types.

However, the characteristic symptoms typically present late in the disease when it is already in the aggressive stages. The initial symptoms often overlap with those of other, benign conditions, making diagnosis challenging.


B Symptoms

Patients with lymphoma may show general, nonspecific symptoms called “B symptoms.”

These symptoms include the following:

Swollen Lymph Nodes

T-cell lymphoma patient may see or feel lumps on certain parts of the body where lymph nodes are present.

These areas include the following:

  • Above the collarbone
  • Sides of the neck
  • The groin
  • Underarms

These are usually not painful compared with swollen lymph nodes that occur because of an infection, which are known as reactive nodes.

Skin Rashes

Patients with CTCL may initially notice itchy, dry patches that can appear red or purple, depending on a person’s skin tone. Some of these patches may thicken and cause the skin to break. As the disease progresses, small bumps and nodules may appear.

A lymphoma rash is not a term that doctors usually use, but some people use the term to describe skin-related symptoms of lymphoma.

Skin rashes are uncommon symptoms of Hodgkin lymphoma, but they may result more often from other types of lymphoma that start in T or B cells.

The American Cancer Society note that nearly half of all skin lymphomas are MF. The most common type of cutaneous T-cell lymphoma (CTCL), MF occurs when cancerous T cells are present in the skin with a characteristic presentation of patches, plaques, and sometimes tumor-like lesions.

The most common sign of MF is a rash consisting of one or more scaly, inflamed patches of skin. These patches are generally itchy, and they are easiest to recognize in a bathing suit distribution, commonly appearing on the buttocks and thighs.

Over time, the rash may become more severe and spread to other areas. The affected skin may get thick and hard, and form raised plaques. The plaques may darken and possibly bleed. Some form of tumor-like raised lesions.

Other patients with MF may experience a very dry and itchy redness over a majority of their skin, and this can indicate Sezary syndrome.

Doctors consider Sezary syndrome to be relatively distinct from typical MF. In Sezary syndrome, the cancerous T cell is a different type from that of MF.

While MF is the most common type of cutaneous T cell lymphoma, there are many other types, some of which are very rare.

Neurological Symptoms

Lymphoma that affects the brain can cause headaches, difficulty paying attention and processing thoughts, mood and personality changes, and seizures.

Lymphoma can also occur in areas near the brain and spinal cord, causing symptoms such as slurred speech, double vision, and facial numbness. Weakness or numbness of other body parts can also happen.


Abdominal Symptoms

Lymphoma in the abdomen can make the liver and spleen swell, causing abdominal pain. An enlarged spleen may make a person feel full easily or cause them to lose their appetite. Lymphoma in the stomach may result in vomiting and nausea.

Chest Symptoms

Lymph nodes in the chest may grow and cause chest pain or pressure. They can also press on the windpipe and cause coughing or breathing problems.

Sometimes, the lymphoma can press on the superior vena cava (SVC), causing blood to pool back in the veins. This may lead to SVC syndrome, a life-threatening condition.


Other Symptoms

Extranodal NK/T-cell lymphoma may cause nasal obstruction, nosebleeds, or nasal bone destruction. Patients with adult T-cell lymphoma may have hypercalcemia and areas of bone destruction called lytic bone lesions.

Any additional symptoms may depend on the type of lymphoma that a patient has.

Some patients with MF experience no other symptoms, at first, beyond the rash.

The rash and plaques may get worse as the condition progresses. In some individuals, tumor-like lesions develop on the skin. The cancer may spread to the lymph nodes or other areas of the body.

Symptoms of spreading or progression can include:

These symptoms can result from many types of lymphoma, including those that originate in areas other than the skin, known as systemic lymphomas.

The early symptoms can be easy to overlook, even for an experienced dermatologist, making the diagnosis challenging.

No standard diagnostic criteria for MF exist, and a diagnosis largely relies on the findings of a skin biopsy. To make matters more difficult, eczema and similar conditions can look like MF on a biopsy. For this reason, the doctor will usually take multiple biopsies.


Causes of T-cell Lymphoma

Usually, the cause of T-cell lymphoma is unknown. However, experts associate CTCL with the dysregulation of certain genes and signaling pathways. Some reports also link it with chronic skin inflammation.

Some types of T-cell lymphoma may be due to viral exposure. For instance, adult T-cell leukemia/lymphoma is linked with the HTLV-1 virus. In 66–99% of AITL cases, patients have previously contracted the Epstein-Barr virus (EPV).

A 2018 study suggests that patients aged 50 years and above with celiac disease have a higher risk of developing enteropathy-associated T-cell lymphoma (EATL).

Additionally, a family history of myeloma and T-cell activating autoimmune disease increases a person’s chance of having T-cell lymphoma.


Diagnosis of T-cell Lymphoma

A doctor will investigate the patient’s medical history and symptoms and will examine them for physical signs and will likely recommend further lab testing.

They will generally request a biopsy of the lymph node for lab testing. If the symptoms indicate that lymphoma is present in other parts of the body, they may extract fluid samples to check for lymphoma cells. They may use the following patient samples:

  • Cerebrospinal fluid
  • Peritoneal fluid
  • Pleural fluid

Pathologists will carry out several tests on the samples to diagnose lymphoma and determine the type. Tests include the following:

  • Chromosome tests: Tests such as molecular cytogenetics, fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH), and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests check for genetic and chromosomal abnormalities that can help identify the type of T-cell lymphoma and aid in treatment planning.
  • Immunophenotyping: This test looks at specific markers or antigens on the surface of cancer cells to identify the type of lymphoma.

Your doctor may also request imaging tests, such as a chest X-ray, computerized tomography (CT) scan, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), PET scan, or ultrasound. These can help them find possible causes of the symptoms, determine the extent of the lymphoma, monitor treatment progress, and, at a later stage, check for the recurrence of the disease.


Treatment of T-cell Lymphoma

Treatment options for T-cell lymphomas include the following:


CTCL Treatment

Treatment for CTCL consists of topical therapy and systemic therapy. Topical therapy includes:

Other skin-directed treatment options are radiation therapy, which includes electron beam radiation and total skin electron beam (TSEB) therapy, and phototherapy, which may use UVA, UVA with psoralen (PUVA), or UVB.

A 2021 review states that novel treatments for CTCL, including targeted therapies and histone deacetylase and mTOR inhibitors, have potential benefits for patients with this disease.

PTCL Treatment

Since PTCL is a rare disease, treatments are based on the findings of clinical trials, and experts are still searching for novel therapies for the condition. However, since it is a fast-growing disease, patients with PTCL usually receive intensive chemotherapy. The standard first-line chemotherapy treatment for PTCL is CHOP, which stands for:

  • Cyclophosphamide
  • Hydroxydaunorubicin
  • Prednisone 
  • Oncovin

Other drugs include the etoposide, are CHEOP and EPOCH. These treatments are more suitable for young patients.

However, a 2019 review suggests that adding etoposide to a CHOP regimen does not significantly change the therapeutic effects.

Another chemo combination option for some of these lymphomas is:

  • Brentuximab vedotin
  • Cyclophosphamide
  • Doxorubicin
  • Prednisone

Doctors give fewer intensive drugs, such as gemcitabine and bendamustine, to patients who cannot tolerate intensive chemo.

They may sometimes recommend autologous stem cell treatment (ASCT) to individuals who have responded well to initial treatment. ASCT may lead to complete remission in certain types of T-cell lymphoma.

Lymphomas in localized areas may be treatable with radiation. Doctors may recommend surgery to remove certain parts of the intestine.

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:

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.

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