title: Lymphoid proliferations of the salivary glands.
abstract: Lymphoid proliferations of the salivary glands can be either reactive or neoplastic. Reactive lesions include cystic lymphoid hyperplasia--a multicystic ductal proliferation with reactive germinal centers, seen most often in intravenous drug users infected with HIV--and the lymphoepithelial sialadenitis of Sjögren's syndrome (so-called benign lymphoepithelial lesion [BLEL] or myoepithelial sialadenitis [MESA]). This lymphoid proliferation involves infiltration of ductal epithelium by lymphocytes of marginal zone or monocytoid B-cell type, forming lymphoepithelial lesions (epimyoepithelial islands). Patients with lymphoepithelial sialadenitis have a 44-fold increased risk of developing salivary gland or extrasalivary lymphoma, of which 80% are marginal zone/MALT type. Broad strands of marginal zone or monocytoid B cells around lymphoepithelial lesions and monotypic immunoglobulin detection by immunohistochemistry are considered diagnostic of MALT lymphoma. B-cell clones are detected in over 50% of cases of MESA by molecular genetic methods, but this does not correlate with overlymphoma. "Nodal" type B-cell lymphomas of the salivary glands are either follicular lymphoma (35%), which may arise in intrasalivary gland lymph nodes and behave similarly to follicular lymphoma in other sites, or diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (30%), which may arise de novo or secondary to either MALT or follicular lymphomas.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA.
authors.forename: N L
authors.initials: NL
authors.lastname: Harris
mesh_terms: D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D006801:Humans; D016130:Immunophenotyping; D008223:Lymphoma / Q000473:pathology*; D018442:Lymphoma, B-Cell, Marginal Zone / Q000473:pathology; D008224:Lymphoma, Follicular / Q000473:pathology; D008228:Lymphoma, Non-Hodgkin / Q000473:pathology; D012468:Salivary Gland Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology*; D012793:Sialadenitis / Q000473:pathology; D012859:Sjogren's Syndrome / Q000473:pathology