Lab Invest. 2002 Sep;82(9):1103-9.

T-cell variant of classical Hodgkin's lymphoma with nodal and cutaneous manifestations demonstrated by single-cell polymerase chain reaction.
Willenbrock K, Ichinohasama R, Kadin ME, Miura I, Terui T, Meguro K, Fukuhara O, DeCoteau JF, Hansmann ML.
Senckenberg Institute of Pathology, University of Frankfurt, Frankfurt am Main, Germany. Willenbrock@em.uni-frankfurt.de

The atypical cells of CD30(+) cutaneous lymphoproliferative disorders (CD30CLD) are commonly of T-cell origin and frequently have a similar morphology as Hodgkin or Reed-Sternberg cells of Hodgkin's lymphoma (HL). HL is one of the tumors associated with CD30CLD. Although most studies support a B-cell derivation of the tumor cells in HL, recently a few cases of classical HL with T-cell genotype have been reported. We report a patient who presented with CD30CLD whose lymph nodes showed classical HL of mixed cellularity subtype at presentation. By single-cell PCR, the same clonal gene rearrangements of the T cell receptor-beta gene locus could be assigned to the CD30(+) and CD15(+) cells of both skin and lymph node. In a lymph node biopsy specimen taken in relapse after several courses of chemotherapy, the CD30(+) tumor cells were abundant. The T cell-derived tumor cells displayed aberrant expression of the Pax-5 gene in all specimens. A common clonal origin of both CD30CLD and HL of the lymph node in the patient presented here suggests that HL with T-cell genotype exists in association with CD30CLD as well as in sporadic cases and may share clonal origin with the skin tumor.

PMID: 12218070 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]