Cytogenetic studies and clinical implications in patients with Sézary syndrome.

Chromosome studies were carried out on 11 National Institutes of Health (N.I.H.) patients who had the diagnosis of Sézary syndrome. Heteroploidy, multiple markers including minute and ring chromosomes, and a lack of modality and clone formation, were the common chromosomal findings in this syndrome. Abundant spontaneous division of heteroploid cells in unstimulated peripheral blood cultures, a high percentage of heteroploid cells in stimulated culture, and finally, clone formation, are signs of a fulminant process and lead to the terminal phase of this disease. Early chemotherapeutic eradication of these heteroploid neoplastic cells would, therefore, be the treatment of choice in this disease.