DNA Gene Rearrangement Studies in Hodgkin’s Disease and Related Lymphomas: A Contribution to Their Cellular Origin

Abstract

Since Hodgkin’s disease (HD) was first described, its nature has remained enigmatic and the identity of the putative tumor cell open to debate. The neoplastic nature of this disease was finally determined by cytogenetic studies demonstrating the aneuploidy and clonality of giant cells (Seif and Spriggs 1967; Whitelaw 1969). The most generally accepted and clinically relevant concept of classification of HD is the histological differentiation of four different subtypes as proposed at the Rye Conference in 1966 (Lukes et al. 1966). Although the Hodgkin (H) and Sternberg-Reed (SR) cells are usually the minor population except in HD lymphocyte depletion (HDLD), they are now widely accepted as the neoplastic cell in this disease. However, these giant cells are by no means specific for HD. They may be observed in reactive lesions such as infectious mononucleosis and in pleomorphic T-cell lymphomas or large cell anaplastic lymphomas (LCALs) (Stein et al. 1985; Suchi et al. 1987).