| Abstract
| - In order to study the nature and etiology of “endemic adult T-cell leukemia/ lymphoma”, the T- and B-Cell Malignancy Study Group was formed and a total of 673 cases of lymphoid malignancy whose expression of cell surface markers had been examined were collected during the period between June and August 1980. In this nationwide survey, patients with lymphoid malignancy of the T-cell type accounted for 48.9% of the total cases, patients with the B-cell type for 24.17%, those with other types including Sm-lg negative non-T and Sm-lg undetermined non-T lymphoma and chronic lymphocytic leukemia for 17.1%, and those with non-T acute lymphocytic leukemia for 5.2%. The clinical, laboratory and histopathological findings were compared by cell type of the lymphoid malignancies and it was found that the patients with T-cell malignancy were characterized by the following findings, in comparison with the patients with B-cell malignancy: manifestations of leukemia, hepatosplenomegaly, skin lesion and hypercalcemia were more frequently observed the proportion of patients showing a negative reaction to the PPD skin test, which was used as a measure of the activity of cellular immunity, was large (80%) and the negative reaction was associated with frequent complications by fatal infectious diseases prognosis was poor, but it was not related to the size of the histologically dominant tumor cell geographical clusterings were observed in rural and coastal areas of Kyushu and southern Shikoku. The new evidence obtained from this survey is as follows: a seasonal peak in the clinical onset of T-cell malignancy was observed in the summer (a peak was observed in winter in patients with B-cell malignancy); eleven patients with adult T-cell malignancy had a family history of malignant lymphoma and leukemia, while no patients with B-cell malignancy had such a family history, suggesting that there is some genetic predisposition for susceptibility to the unknown oncogenic factors of adult T-cell malignancy; a larger proportion of patients with T-cell malignancy than with B-cell malignancy, especially males with adult T-cell leukemia, were engaged in primary industry. In order to further elucidate the nature and etiology of “endemic adult T-cell leukemia/lymphoma” in Japan, it was deemed necessary to carry out further collaborative clinical, epidemiological, virological, immunological and pathological studies.
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