title: Comparative ultrastructural study of cytotoxic granules in nasal natural killer cell lymphoma, intestinal T-cell lymphoma, and anaplastic large cell lymphoma.
abstract: Comparative immunohistochemical and ultrastructural studies were performed on five nasal natural killer (NK) cell lymphoma cases, two intestinal T-cell lymphoma cases, and eight anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALCL) cases to clarify morphological differences in cytotoxic granules among these cytotoxic lymphomas. Nasal NK-cell lymphomas and intestinal T-cell lymphomas had fine azurophilic granules and displayed dot-like immunostaining of granzyme B- and T-cell intracellular antigen 1 (TIA-1), predominantly in the central area of the cytoplasm. Ultrastructurally, these NK-cell lymphomas and intestinal T-cell lymphomas had two types of cytotoxic granules, type-I granules (dense core granules) and type-II granules (multivesicular bodies), which have been demonstrated in normal large granular lymphocytes in peripheral blood. However, ALCLs did not have azurophilic granules, and only type-II cytotoxic granules were found ultrastructurally, even though they showed similar dot-like immunostained patterns of granzyme B and TIA-1, as seen in NK-cell lymphomas and intestinal T-cell lymphomas. Immunoelectron microscopy revealed that TIA-1 was primarily located at the periphery of the cytoplasmic granules in the NK-cell lymphoma and ALCL cases. These findings suggest that malignant lymphomas with a cytotoxic phenotype can be divided into two types, (azurophilic granule)+, (type-I granule)+, (type-II granule)+ lymphomas and (azurophilic granule)-, (type-I granule)-, (type-II granule)+ lymphomas.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Kawasaki Medical School, 577 Matsushima, Kurashiki 701-0192, Japan. sadapath@med.kawasaki-m.ac.jp
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Sadahira
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Akisada
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sugihara
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hata
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Uehira
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Muraki
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Manabe
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D019002:CD56 Antigen / Q000032:analysis; D003594:Cytoplasmic Granules / Q000276:immunology / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007414:Intestinal Neoplasms / Q000276:immunology / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D007694:Killer Cells, Natural / Q000276:immunology / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D016403:Lymphoma, Large B-Cell, Diffuse / Q000276:immunology / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D016399:Lymphoma, T-Cell / Q000276:immunology / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D008297:Male; D008565:Membrane Proteins / Q000032:analysis; D016253:Microscopy, Immunoelectron; D008875:Middle Aged; D009669:Nose Neoplasms / Q000276:immunology / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D039102:Poly(A)-Binding Proteins; D011506:Proteins; D016601:RNA-Binding Proteins / Q000032:analysis; D000074019:T-Cell Intracellular Antigen-1
chemical_list: D019002:CD56 Antigen; D008565:Membrane Proteins; D039102:Poly(A)-Binding Proteins; D011506:Proteins; D016601:RNA-Binding Proteins; D000074019:T-Cell Intracellular Antigen-1; C071558:TIA1 protein, human