title: The aberrant coexpression of several receptor tyrosine kinases is largely restricted to EBV-negative cases of classical Hodgkin's lymphoma.
abstract: The Hodgkin-Reed/Sternberg (HRS) cells of classical Hodgkin's lymphoma (HL) aberrantly express up to 7 different receptor tyrosine kinases (RTK) with extensive heterogeneity regarding the number and combinations of expressed RTKs in individual cases and a more prominent coexpression in nodular-sclerosis (ns) than mixed-cellularity (mc) HL. To investigate whether RTK expression patterns are related to other pathogenetic mechanisms and clinical behaviour, we analysed a large collection of EBV(+) and EBV(-) cases of ns and mc subtype and cases with relapses for expression of the 7 RTKs. No specific relation of any RTK to a specific group of cases was observed. The analysis of average numbers of expressed RTKs per case as a measure for strength of overall RTK signalling revealed a relation with the histological subtype and the EBV-status. RTK coexpression was significantly higher in EBV(-) nsHL cases compared to both EBV(-) and EBV(+) mcHL cases. Among mcHL cases RTK coexpression was significantly higher in EBV(-) compared to EBV(+) cases. Coexpression of 3 and more RTKs was largely restricted to EBV(-) cases. The inverse correlation between strong RTK signalling and presence of EBV may indicate that RTK signalling can at least partially replace the role of EBV in HRS cell pathogenesis. For cases with aberrant coexpression of several RTKs inclusion of RTK inhibitors in therapy regimens may be a novel option.
authors.affiliation: Senckenberg Institute for Pathology, University of Frankfurt, Frankfurt, Germany.
authors.forename: Christoph
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Renné
authors.forename: Nora
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Hinsch
authors.forename: Klaus
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Willenbrock
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fuchs
authors.forename: Wolfram
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Klapper
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Engert
authors.forename: Ralf
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Küppers
authors.forename: Martin-Leo
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Hansmann
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bräuninger
mesh_terms: D004854:Herpesvirus 4, Human / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D006689:Hodgkin Disease / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000473:pathology / Q000821:virology; D006801:Humans; D020794:Receptor Protein-Tyrosine Kinases / Q000378:metabolism*; D012008:Recurrence
chemical_list: D020794:Receptor Protein-Tyrosine Kinases