title: Lymphocyte predominance Hodgkin's disease: lineage and clonality determination using a single-cell assay.
abstract: Lymphocyte predominance Hodgkin's disease (LPHD) is a clinically indolent condition. Although there is evidence that the putative neoplastic cell in this disease, the "L&H" cell, is of B-cell lineage, there is conflicting data concerning the clonality of these cells. Our study was aimed at clarifying the issue of lineage and clonality of the L&H cells of LPHD using a single-cell assay. Four cases of LPHD were studied. To circumvent the difficulties of obtaining fresh tissue and to be able to study representative cases, a new method was developed to obtain single-cell suspensions of L&H cells from archival formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tissue. Single L&H cells were identified by morphology and immunostaining for epithelial membrane antigen, isolated using a micropipette, and subjected to polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification of the complematarity determining region 3 (CDR3) of the Ig heavy chain (IgH) gene, which is B-cell clone-specific. The PCR products were size-fractionated by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and representative products were directly sequenced. Single T cells and small B cells were also isolated from the tissues and used as negative and positive controls, respectively. In all four cases of LPHD, the IgH CDR3 of single L&H cells could be amplified. Within each case, the IgH CDR3 of single L&H cells was found to be of different length or of different sequence. Therefore, our results provide strong evidence for the B-cell origin of the L&H cells and the polyclonal nature of LPHD.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology and Microbiology, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha 68198-3135.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Delabie
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tierens
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: D D
authors.initials: DD
authors.lastname: Weisenburger
authors.forename: W C
authors.initials: WC
authors.lastname: Chan
mesh_terms: D015703:Antigens, CD / Q000032:analysis; D001402:B-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology; D001483:Base Sequence; D015139:Blotting, Southern; D017931:DNA Primers; D004273:DNA, Neoplasm / Q000032:analysis; D005838:Genotype; D006689:Hodgkin Disease / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology* / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D007143:Immunoglobulin Heavy Chains / Q000235:genetics*; D016130:Immunophenotyping; D008214:Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology* / Q000473:pathology; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods
chemical_list: D015703:Antigens, CD; D017931:DNA Primers; D004273:DNA, Neoplasm; D007143:Immunoglobulin Heavy Chains