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We report 10 cases of donor cell leukemia (DCL). All cases except the case of chronic lymphocytic leukemia had anemia, neutropenia, and/or thrombocytopenia when DCL was diagnosed. Eight cases with sex-mismatched hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HCT) showed donor gonosomal complements, suggesting DCL. Clonal cytogenetic abnormalities were detected in 8 cases: 6 were monosomy 7/del(7q). In all 10 cases, engraftment studies confirmed donor cell origin. Retrospective fluorescence in situ hybridization in archived donor cells in 4 cases showed a low level of abnormalities in 2. Of 7 patients with clinical follow-up of 5 months or more, 1 (with acute myeloid leukemia) died of disease; 6 are alive, including 1 with myelodysplastic syndrome with spontaneous remission. Similar to reported cases, we found disproportional sex-mismatched HCTs, suggesting probable underdetection of DCL in sex-matched HCTs. The latency between HCT and DCL ranged from 1 to 193 months (median, 24 months), in keeping with the literature. Analyzing our cases, pooled with reported cases, with survival models showed much shorter latency for malignancy as primary disease, for T-cell large granular lymphocyte leukemia as type of DCL, and for umbilical cord blood as stem cell source.

We report 10 cases of donor cell leukemia (DCL). All cases except the case of chronic lymphocytic leukemia had anemia, neutropenia, and/ or thrombocytopenia when DCL was diagnosed. Eight cases with sex-mismatched hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HCT) showed donor gonosomal complements, suggesting DCL. Clonal cytogenetic abnormalities were detected in 8 cases: 6 were monosomy 7/del(7q). In all 10 cases, engraftment studies confirmed donor cell origin. Retrospective fluorescence in situ hybridization in archived donor cells in 4 cases showed a low level of abnormalities in 2. Of 7 patients with clinical follow-up of 5 months or more, 1 (with acute myeloid leukemia) died of disease; 6 are alive, including 1 with myelodysplastic syndrome with spontaneous remission. Similar to reported cases, we found disproportional sex-mismatched HCTs, suggesting probable underdetection of DCL in sex-matched HCTs. The latency between HCT and DCL ranged from 1 to 193 months (median, 24 months), in keeping with the literature. Analyzing our cases, pooled with reported cases, with survival models showed much shorter latency for malignancy as primary disease, for T-cell large granular lymphocyte leukemia as type of DCL, and for umbilical cord blood as stem cell source. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]