Occurrence of a T Cell Lymphoma in a Patient with Chronic Myeloid Leukemia Treated with Alpha Interferon

A patient treated by recombinant human alpha interferon for chronic myeloid leukemia developed a T cell lymphoma. The T cell lymphoma cells were demonstrated to be genotypically different from the chronic myeloid leukemia cells. The possible role of interferon therapy in stimulating T cell proliferation is discussed.