Expression of HLA class I and HLA class II by tumor cells in Chinese classical Hodgkin lymphoma patients.
BACKGROUND
In Caucasian populations, the tumor cells of Epstein Barr virus (EBV)-positive classical Hodgkin Lymphomas (cHL) patients more frequently express HLA class I and HLA class II molecules compared to EBV-negative cHL patients. HLA expression (in relation to EBV) in Asian cHL patients has not been previously investigated.


RESULTS
We randomly selected 145 cHL patients with formalin-fixed, paraffin embedded tissue blocks available from 5 hospitals from the Northern part of China. Hematoxylin & Eosin-stained slides were used to re-classify the histological subtypes according to the WHO classification. EBV status was determined by visualization of EBERs in tumor cells using in situ hybridization. Membranous expression of HLA molecules was detected by immunohistochemistry using antibodies HC-10 (class I heavy chain) and anti-beta2-microglobulin for HLA class I, and CR3/43 for HLA class II. EBV+ tumor cells were observed in 40% (58/145) of the cHL patients. As expected, the percentage of EBV+ cases was much higher in the mixed cellularity subtype (71%) than in the nodular sclerosis subtype (16%) (p<0.001). Expression of HLA class I was observed in 79% of the EBV+ cHL cases and in 30% of the EBV-cases (p<0.001). For HLA class II, 52% of EBV+ cHL cases were positive, compared to 43% in EBV- cases (p = 0.28).


CONCLUSIONS
The results in the Northern China population were similar to those in the Caucasian population for HLA class I, but not for HLA class II.
Department of Pathology and Medical Biology, University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands.
Xin
X
Huang
Anke
A
van den Berg
Zifen
Z
Gao
Lydia
L
Visser
Ilja
I
Nolte
Hans
H
Vos
Bouke
B
Hepkema
Wierd
W
Kooistra
Sibrand
S
Poppema
Arjan
A
Diepstra
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D044466:Asian People; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002681:China; D005260:Female; D004854:Herpesvirus 4, Human / Q000276:immunology; D015395:Histocompatibility Antigens Class I / Q000276:immunology*; D000949:Histocompatibility Antigens Class II / Q000276:immunology*; D006689:Hodgkin Disease / Q000276:immunology* / Q000473:pathology / Q000821:virology; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D017403:In Situ Hybridization; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009426:Netherlands; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000235:genetics; D055815:Young Adult
C099537:Epstein-Barr virus encoded RNA 1; C106732:Epstein-Barr virus encoded RNA 2; D015395:Histocompatibility Antigens Class I; D000949:Histocompatibility Antigens Class II; D012367:RNA, Viral