title: Morphologically normal, CD30-negative B-lymphocytes with chromosome aberrations in classical Hodgkin's disease: the progenitor cell of the malignant clone?
abstract: A recent study observed that numerical chromosome abnormalities in Hodgkin's disease (HD) are detected not only in morphologically abnormal Hodgkin/Reed-Sternberg cells, but also in a fraction of morphologically normal cells. However, the phenotypic constitution of these genetically abnormal, morphologically normal cells and their relationship to the malignant Hodgkin/Reed-Sternberg cells could not be established in the earlier cases studied, because of the low frequency of these cells. The present study investigated two cases of classical Hodgkin's disease containing a relatively large population of such apparently normal cells with aberrant chromosome copy numbers. The phenotype and their position within the developmental route of the malignant compartment were examined by a combined in situ hybridization and immunocytochemistry approach. Numerical abnormalities for chromosome 1 in one case and for chromosomes X, Y, and 1 in the other case were observed not only in CD30-positive Hodgkin/Reed-Sternberg cells, but also in CD30-negative, morphologically normal cells. It was shown that these genetically aberrant cells expressed the B-cell antigen CD19, thus confirming their B-cell nature. These studies indicate a relationship between the genome aberrations in these genetically abnormal, morphologically normal B-cells and the Hodgkin/Reed-Sternberg cells, suggesting that they are progenitor cells of the malignant cell fraction.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, University Hospital, Maastricht, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: M P
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Jansen
authors.forename: A H
authors.initials: AH
authors.lastname: Hopman
authors.forename: F J
authors.initials: FJ
authors.lastname: Bot
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Haesevoets
authors.forename: M J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Stevens-Kroef
authors.forename: J W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Arends
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Jox
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wolf
authors.forename: F C
authors.initials: FC
authors.lastname: Ramaekers
authors.forename: H C
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Schouten
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001402:B-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology*; D002869:Chromosome Aberrations; D005838:Genotype; D006689:Hodgkin Disease / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D017403:In Situ Hybridization; D017730:Ki-1 Antigen; D008297:Male; D014411:Neoplastic Stem Cells / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology*; D010641:Phenotype; D016539:Reed-Sternberg Cells / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology*
chemical_list: D017730:Ki-1 Antigen