Human herpes virus 8-negative primary effusion lymphoma with BCL6 rearrangement in a patient with idiopathic CD4 positive T-lymphocytopenia

Abstract

Primary effusion lymphoma (PEL) was initially designated as a body-cavity-based lymphoma and recognized as a distinct clinical entity without a contiguous tumor mass. PEL was first reported in patients with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) and the distinctive feature of PEL originally reported as a B-cell neoplasm characterized by infection of the tumor cells by human herpes virus 8 (HHV-8). 1 However, there have recently been several reports of PEL in patients without human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) or HHV8 infection 2-4.