Clonotypic Diversity of the T-cell Receptor Corroborates the Immature Precursor Origin of Cutaneous T-cell Lymphoma.

These findings can be explained by a model where malignant transformation takes place during early T-cell development giving rise to circulating premalignant clones, which home to the skin producing clinically apparent lesions of cutaneous lymphoma. Therapeutic strategies in T-cell lymphoma should therefore target those early lymphoma precursor cells.