Typical adult T-cell leukaemia (ATL) cells have a CD4+ CD8- cell surface phenotype, but atypical phenotypes such as CD4+ CD8+ and CD4- CD8+ have also been reported. The CD8 molecule is composed of alpha and beta chains and commonly used monoclonal antibodies against CD8 molecule detect only CD8alpha. Since it has been reported that CD8alpha can be induced in mature CD4+ T cells by cell activation, but not CD8beta, we studied whether ATL cells which express CD8alpha may also express CD8beta. We found some cases of CD8alpha+ ATL were also positive for CD8beta. Furthermore, we experienced a case whose ATL cell surface phenotype changed from CD4+ CD8alpha+ CD8beta+ to CD4- CD8alpha+ CD8beta+ and finally to CD4+ CD8alpha- CD8beta-. Southern blot analysis revealed that the monoclonal integration of human T lymphotropic virus type I (HTLV-I) was identical throughout the course of the study, indicating that a single clone had demonstrated the alterations. These data suggest that peripheral CD4+ CD8+ ATL cells can express not only CD8alpha, but also CD8beta and that a single ATL cell clone has the potential to change its surface phenotype in vivo as well as in vitro.