Methotrexate With or Without Cyclophosphamide in Treating Patients With Lymphocytic Leukemia

Inclusion: * Phenotypic studies from peripheral blood showing CD3+, CD57+ cells greater than 400/mm3 or CD8+ cells greater than 650/mm3 within eight weeks prior to registration * Evidence for clonal T-cell receptor gene rearrangement within one year prior to registration * At least one of the following: Severe neutropenia less than 500/mm3, neutropenia associated with recurrent infections, symptomatic anemia, or transfusion-dependent anemia * Bilirubin ≤ 2.0 mg/dl, SGOT(AST) ≤ 1.5 times normal, and Creatinine ≤ 2.0 mg/dl within 4 weeks prior to registration * ECOG performance status of 0-2 * At least 18 years of age * Written informed consent Exclusion: * Prior therapy with oral MTX or oral Cy * Previous or concurrent malignancies except inactive non-melanoma skin cancer, in situ carcinoma of the cervix, or other cancer if the patient has been disease free for over 5 years * Pregnant or breast-feeding for female patients * Serious medical illness, other than that treated by the study, which would limit survival to less than 2 years, or psychiatric condition which would prevent informed consent Note: to be eligible for step 2 of this study, patients were required to have no response after at least 4 months of methotrexate treatment.