CD56-Positive Acute Myeloid Leukemia Complicated by Hemophagocytic Lymphohistiocytosis: A case report and narrative review

Abstract

At present, there are no reported cases of CD56+ acute myeloid leukemia (AML) combined with hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH). Meanwhile, there is no standardized treatment plan for AML combined with HLH. This article reports a 27 years old female patient with CD56+ AML who received treatment with an HLH-94-based regimen combined with B cell lymphoma 2 (BCL-2) inhibitor venetoclax. After treatment, the patient’s body temperature returned to normal and laboratory parameters related to HLH improved. Two weeks after chemotherapy, bone marrow reassessment showed 3% blast cells and undetectable MLL-AF9 fusion transcripts; complete remission was subsequently documented on May 23, 2024. To our knowledge, this represents a rarely reported case of CD56+AML with HLH. The result suggests that BCL-2 targeted therapy combined with HLH-94 regimen may be a safe and promising strategy for treating CD56+AML with HLH, and may provide a basis for the selection of treatment strategies for such patients in clinical practice.