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NK Cell Neoplasms

Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation for natural killer-cell lineage neoplasms

Bone Marrow Transplantation volume 37, pages 425–431 (2006)Cite this article

Abstract

Neoplasms of natural killer (NK)-lineage are rare. Their prognosis is generally poor except for cases of solitary nasal NK-cell lymphoma. The NK-cell Tumor Study Group performed a survey in Japan on patients diagnosed between 1994 and 1998. Of 228 patients selected for analysis, 40 underwent HSCT (15 allografts and 25 autografts). The underlying diseases were myeloid/NK cell precursor acute leukemia (n=4), blastic NK-cell lymphoma (n=11), aggressive NK-cell leukemia (n=3), and nasal-type extranodal NK-cell lymphoma (n=22). At the time of HSCT, 22 patients were in complete remission (CR), 11 were in relapse, and seven were primary refractory. All patients received myeloablative conditioning regimens including total-body irradiation. Sixteen died of disease progression, and six of treatment-related causes. Overall, 4-year survival was 39% with a median follow-up of 50 months; this was significantly better than that of patients who did not undergo HSCT (21%, P=0.0003). For patients transplanted in CR, the 4-year overall survival was 68%, which was significantly better than that of patients who went into CR but did not undergo HSCT (P=0.03). These findings suggest that the HSCT is a promising treatment strategy for NK-cell lineage.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported in part by a Grant-in-Aid for the Second-Term Comprehensive 10-year Strategy for Cancer Control from the Ministry of Health and Welfare, a Grant-in-Aid for Science on Primary Areas (Cancer Research), from the Ministry of Education, Science and Culture, Japan. The authors wish to thank the following collaborating institutions and their staffs for providing the patient data and specimens: Japanese Red Cross Asahikawa Hospital; Hokkaido University School of Medicine; National Sapporo Hospital; Sapporo Municipal Hospital; Fukushima Medical College; Ibaraki Children's Hospital; Tokyo University School of Medicine; Nippon Telephone and Telegram Kanto Hospital; Institute of Medical Science, Tokyo Women's Medical College; Metropolitan Komagome Hospital; National Cancer Center; Keio University School of Medicine; Nippon Medical School; Saiseikai Maebashi Hospital; Niigata University School of Medicine; Kanazawa University School of Medicine; Kanazawa Medical College; Mie University School of Medicine; Japanese Red Cross Kyoto First Hospital; Japanese Red Cross Osaka Hospital; Osaka Municipal Medical Center; National Osaka Hospital; Okayama University School of Medicine; Shimane Medical College; Tokushima University School of Medicine; Kurume Medical College; Kyushu University School of Medicine.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Molecular Medicine, Aichi Cancer Center, Nagoya, Japan

    R Suzuki

  2. First Department of Internal Medicine, Fukuoka University School of Medicine, Fukuoka, Japan

    J Suzumiya

  3. Departments of Pathology and Molecular Diagnostics, Aichi Cancer Center, Nagoya, Japan

    S Nakamura

  4. Department of Hematology and Cell Therapy, Aichi Cancer Center, Nagoya, Japan

    Y Kagami

  5. Department of Rheumatology and Haematology, Tohoku University School of Medicine, Sendai, Japan

    J-I Kameoka

  6. Departments of Hematology and Oncology, Chiba Cancer Center, Chiba, Japan

    C Sakai

  7. Division of Hematology, Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Japan

    H Mukai

  8. Department of Internal Medicine, Okayama University School of Medicine, Okayama, Japan

    K Takenaka

  9. Department of Pathology, Okayama University School of Medicine, Okayama, Japan

    T Yoshino

  10. Department of Pathology, Japanese Red Cross Nagoya Daini Hospital, Nagoya, Japan

    T Tsuzuki

  11. Department of Preventive Medicine, St Marianna University School of Medicine, Kawasaki, Japan

    H Sugimori

  12. Department of Pediatrics, Osaka Medical Center and Research Institute for Maternal and Child Health, Osaka, Japan

    K Kawa

  13. Department of Internal Medicine, Japanese Red Cross Nagoya First Hospital, Nagoya, Japan

    Y Kodera

  14. Department of Hematology, Juntendo University, Tokyo, Japan

    K Oshimi

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Suzuki, R., Suzumiya, J., Nakamura, S. et al. Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation for natural killer-cell lineage neoplasms. Bone Marrow Transplant 37, 425–431 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.bmt.1705244

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