title: Concanavalin A binding histiocytes in Hodgkin's disease and their relation to clinicopathologic features of the disease.
abstract: The occurrence and staining patterns of Concanavalin A (Con A) binding histiocytes were studied in diagnostic lymph node specimens of 133 patients with Hodgkin's disease. Varying numbers of Con A binding histiocytes were present in all tumors. Two distinct cytoplasmic staining patterns of the Con A binding histiocytes were noted: diffuse, and a pattern termed "globular" which represents a dense, solitary paranuclear aggregate of binding sites. The diffuse binding pattern was seen in the majority of histiocytes with no apparent nuclear atypia, but was also occasionally seen in Reed-Sternberg cells. Globular binding was present in both benign and malignant-looking histiocytes, including rare Reed-Sternberg cells. Based on the number of histiocytes in which globular binding of Con A (G-cells) was observed, tumors were grouped in the following three categories: Group 1: tumors with large numbers of G-cells (42 cases); Group 2: tumors with a small number of G-cells (16); and Group 3: tumors with rare or no G-cells (75). Tumors with large numbers of G-cells were seen more frequently in patients with disseminated disease than in those with localized (69.0% versus 31.0%; P less than or equal to 0.002), and more often in patients with B-symptoms than in those without (73.8% versus 26.2%; P less than or equal to 0.001). Large numbers of G-cells were present in most tumors of the lymphocyte depletion type (14/16), whereas rare or no G-cells were seen in the majority of the nodular sclerosis type (46/59). These observations suggest that the G-cells may represent an abnormal variant of histiocytes, the occurrence of which is associated with unfavorable clinical and pathologic features of Hodgkin's disease.
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003208:Concanavalin A / Q000378:metabolism*; D005260:Female; D006644:Histiocytes / Q000378:metabolism*; D006689:Hodgkin Disease / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D008198:Lymph Nodes / Q000378:metabolism; D008264:Macrophages / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged
chemical_list: D003208:Concanavalin A