Glauco Frizzera

Report of the Workshop on Nasal and Related Extranodal Angiocentric T/Natural Killer Cell Lymphomas. Definitions, differential diagnosis, and epidemiology

A workshop jointly sponsored by the University of Hong Kong and the Society for Hematopathology explored the definition, differential diagnosis, and epidemiology of angiocentric lymphomas presenting in the nose and other extranodal sites. The participants concluded that nasal T/natural killer (NK) cell lymphoma is a distinct clinicopathologic entity highly associated with Epstein-Barr virus (EBV). In situ hybridization for EBV an be very valuable in early diagnosis, especially if tissue is sparse. The cytologic spectrum is broad, ranging from small or medium-sized cells to large transformed cells. Histologic progression often occurs with time. Necrosis is nearly always present, and angioinvasion by tumor cells is seen in most cases. Nasal T/NK cell lymphoma has a characteristic immunophenotype: CD2-positive, CD56-positive, but usually negative for surface CD3. Cytoplasmic CD3 can be detected in paraffin sections. Clonal T-cell receptor gene rearrangement is not found. Tumors with an identical phenotype and genotype occur in other extranodal sites, most commonly in the skin, subcutis, and gastrointestinal tract, and should be referred to as nasal-type T/NK cell lymphomas. The differential diagnosis includes lymphomatoid granulomatosis, blastic or monomorphic NK cell lymphoma/leukemia, CD56-positive peripheral T-cell lymphoma, and enteropathy-associated T-cell lymphoma.

Multiple recurrent genomic defects in follicular lymphoma. A possible model for cancer.

Several steps in the clinical evolution of human neoplasia are associated with a variety of recurrent chromosomal defects that could prove essential to the understanding of cancer. We found 15 types of nonrandom chromosomal abnormalities in a study of 71 patients with follicular lymphoma; 10 of the types appeared to influence the histopathological findings, clinical course, or response to treatment. A translocation, t(14;18), observed in 85 percent of all patients appeared to be the main determinant of a follicular pattern. Ten patients with a t(14;18) as a single defect had the histologic features of follicular small cleaved-cell lymphoma. Most did not require treatment for one to four years, because their tumors had an initial indolent course. In contrast, patients with follicular small cleaved-cell lymphoma with t(14;18) and deletion 13q32 acquired the hematologic features of leukemia and had an acceleration of the disease. A deletion 6q together with a complete or partial trisomy 7 or trisomy 12 (or both) was associated with the clinically more aggressive follicular mixed small- and large-cell or large-cell histologic type, which often evolves from follicular small-cell lymphoma. A complete or partial trisomy 3, 18, or 21 correlated almost exclusively with follicular large-cell lymphoma. In all follicular stages, a trisomy 2 or duplication 2p often accompanied an accelerated clinical course and a poor response to treatment. This study suggests that several discrete genomic defects may govern the evolution of a patients malignant disease.

A systemic lymphoproliferative disorder with morphologic features of Castleman's disease: clinical findings and clinicopathologic correlations in 15 patients.

Fifteen patients (11 males, four females; median age 57) manifested a disease characterized by (1) the histopathologic features of Castlemans disease, plasma cell type, in lymph node biopsies; (2) predominantly lymphadenopathic disease, involving multiple, preferentially peripheral nodal groups; (3) varied manifestations of multisystemic involvement (such as constitutional symptoms; splenomegaly and hypergammaglobulinemia; elevated ESR, anemia, and thrombocytopenia; hepatomegaly and altered liver function tests (LFTs); signs of renal disease); and (4) idiopathic nature. Two main patterns of evolution were recognized: persistent, with sustained clinical manifestations, and episodic, with recurrent exacerbations and remissions. Seventy-three percent of patients had infectious complications, and 27% developed malignancies. Complete remissions were obtained occasionally with antineoplastic agents and with splenectomy but not with glucocorticosteroids alone. The median survival time is 30 months; 60% of patients have died. Median follow-up in the six surviving patients is 97+ months. A review of 50 cases in the literature revealed similar clinical and laboratory features. Despite some similarities with autoimmune diseases, the main features of this process seem to best fit a hyperplastic-dysplastic lymphoid disorder in a setting of immunoregulatory deficit.

Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) induced polyclonal and monoclonal B-cell lymphoproliferative diseases occurring after renal transplantation. Clinical, pathologic, and virologic findings and implications for therapy.

Nineteen renal allograft recipients developed B-cell lymphoproliferative diseases. Clinically there were two groups: a) young patients (mean age, 23 years) who presented soon (mean, 9 months) after transplantation or antirejection therapy with fever, pharyngitis, and lymphadenopathy resembling infectious mononucleosis, and b) older patients (mean age, 48 years) who presented later (mean, 6 years) after transplantation with localized tumor masses. Histologically, the diseases were classified as polymorphic diffuse B-cell hyperplasia (PDBH) or polymorphic B-cell lymphoma (PBL). Immunologic cell typing revealed either polyclonal or monoclonal B-cell proliferations. Malignant transformation of polyclonal proliferations in two patients was suggested by the finding of clonal cytogenetic abnormalities. Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) specific serology, staining of biopsy specimens for the Epstein-Barr nuclear antigen, and EBV DNA molecular hybridization studies implicated EBV as the cause of both PDBH and PBL. Acyclovir, an antiviral agent that blocks EBV replication in vitro, inhibited oropharyngeal shedding of EBV and caused complete remission in four patients with polyclonal B-cell proliferations. The monoclonal tumors were acyclovir resistant. We suggest that surgical treatment, radiotherapy, or chemotherapy may be more appropriate therapy in selected patients with acyclovir resistant tumors. Therapeutic decisions require not only documentation of the viral etiology of these tumors, but also immunologic and cytogenetic analysis to determine the stage of tumor evolution in individual patients.

bcl-2 and Other Genomic Alterations in the Prognosis of Large-Cell Lymphoma

Approximately half the patients with diffuse or follicular large-cell or mixed large- and small-cell lymphoma enter a prolonged remission or are cured after receiving combined-drug therapy. It has been unclear, however, why the other half do not respond. We evaluated 54 previously untreated patients with diffuse lymphoma and 20 with follicular lymphoma, all of whom had a large-cell component and Stage II through IV disease, subsequently treated with combined chemotherapy. Different recurrent genomic defects were associated with differences in the response to treatment. Among the 54 patients with diffuse lymphoma, all 12 patients with a duplication of chromosome 3p had a complete clinical remission after a median follow-up of 39 months (11 patients survived). In contrast, all seven patients with a duplication of chromosome 2p had a partial response or no response to treatment and a median survival of six months (all died). Among the 20 patients with follicular lymphoma, all 5 patients with duplication 3p or +3 had a complete clinical remission (all survived), and 3 of 4 patients with duplication 2p or +2 had no response or a partial response to treatment and died. Twenty-three patients with B-cell non-immunoblastic lymphoma or follicular lymphoma who had a bcl-2 oncogene rearrangement had a poorer response to therapy (7 of 23 with complete remission) than the patients without bcl-2 rearrangement (21 of 26 with complete remission). We conclude that in large-cell or mixed-cell lymphoma, duplication of chromosome 3p is associated with a relatively good prognosis and duplication of chromosome 2p or bcl-2 oncogene rearrangement is associated with a relatively poor prognosis. Because such multiple recurrent genomic defects are also common in most other types of cancer, they may have general prognostic importance.

A systemic lymphoproliferative disorder with morphologic features of Castleman's disease. Pathological findings in 15 patients.

ABSTRACTThis report describes the nodal and extra-nodal lesions observed in 15 patients with a generalized disorder that had been histologically diagnosed as Castlemans disease. The disorder was characterized by severe constitutional symptoms, constant involvement of multiple peripheral lymph nodes, and frequent hepatosplenomegaly, in association with clinical and laboratory features reminiscent of a “collagen disease.” The clinical course was chronic, with remissions and exacerbations in seven patients, and aggressive and fatal in eight.The material examined included multiple lymph node biopsies, four surgical specimens of spleen, one open lung biopsy, and material from four autopsies. The diagnostic morphological findings were observed in the nodes and were represented by the following histologic triad: diffuse marked plasmacytosis, from the medulla to the subcapsular areas; prominence of the germinal centers; and good preservation of the architecture. One variant of this basic pattern featured abundant immunoblasts and blood vessels. The process appears to be a systemic reactive proliferation of B-lymphocytes, perhaps resulting from faulty immune regulation.Morphologic similarities indicate a relationship between this multicentric disorder and Castlemans disease of plasmacellular type. However, there are distinct differences between them in clinical presentation and evolution, and, consequently, in therapeutic approach.

Littoral Cell Angioma: A Novel Splenic Vascular Lesion Demonstrating Histiocytic Differentiation

Seventeen cases of a novel type of vascular tumor of the spleen are described. The lesions, whose size ranges from minute foci to large nodules almost completely replacing the splenic tissue, are composed of anastomosing vascular channels resembling splenic sinus and have irregular lumina, often featuring papillary projections and cyst-like spaces; they are lined by tall endothelial cells that slough off into the vascular lumina and show hemophagocytosis. Atypical cells are absent and mitotic activity very low. In contrast to normal sinus endothelia, which express only FVIIIag, neoplastic cells express both endothelial (FVIII-AG, BMA 120) and histiocytic (KP1, lysozyme) antigens; occasionally S-100 protein is also present. The morphologic and immunohistochemical findings in this tumor reflect the dual differentiation potential of the reticuloendothelial cells lining the splenic sinus, justifying the term littoral cell angioma, and recognize a distinct entity that is different from other vascular lesions of the spleen, notably angiosarcoma. This distinction is all the more important because the clinical behaviour of this lesion is apparently benign.

Lymphoreticular disorders in primary immunodeficiencies: New findings based on an up‐to‐date histologic classification of 35 cases

A histologic review was undertaken of 35 lymphoreticular disorders that developed in primary immunodeficiency patients from the Immunodeficiency Cancer Registry. Twenty‐one (60%) of the lesions were non‐Hodgkins lymphomas: these included eight B‐immunoblastic sarcomas. Eight (23%) of the lesions were Hodgkins disease, with a high frequency of lymphocytic depletion type in an unusually young age group. Three lesions (8.5%) represented abnormal proliferative processes, which could not be definitely categorized as either benign or malignant. There were only two acute lymphoblastic leukemias (6%). Differences were found between lymphomas arising in Wiskott‐Aldrich syndrome and those occurring in ataxia‐telangiectasia; this suggests that different pathogenetic mechanisms might operate in their development. The lymphomas in Wiskott‐Aldrich syndrome were all of non‐Hodgkins type, predominantly B‐immunoblastic sarcomas, and presented as localized extranodal infiltrates. The lymphomas in ataxia‐telangiectasia were either Hodgkins disease, mostly of lymphocytic depletion type, or non‐Hodgkins lymphomas of the histologic subtypes associated with 14q translocations.

Mediastinal diffuse large-cell lymphoma with sclerosis. A clinicopathologic study of 60 cases.

A retrospective analysis was conducted of 60 cases of mediastinal diffuse large-cell lymphoma with sclerosis (MDLLS). The study group consisted of 43 females and 17 males. Eighty-five percent were 35 years of age or younger at time of initial diagnosis. Thirty are alive and well at least 1 year after diagnosis (median: 34.5 months), six are alive with disease (median: 13 months), 20 died of disseminated disease (median: 16.5 months), and four died of other causes. Complete autopsy was performed on eight of the patients who died of disease. The most frequently involved extrathoracic organs were lymph nodes, kidney, liver, pancreas, gastrointestinal tract, and ovary. Fifty-six cases were classified according to the Lukes-Collins scheme: 35 were follicular center cell, 13 immunoblastic T (IBT), seven immunoblastic B (IBB), one a composite of IBB and nodular sclerosing Hodgkins disease; four cases were unclassifiable. Lymphoreticular origin was proven immunohistochemically in 53 cases, including the four unclassifiable examples and eight cases typed as B-cell tumors. Unfavorable prognostic factors were age less than 25 years at diagnosis, tumor outside the thoracic cavity at presentation, disease recurrence, and IBT or IBB tumor histology. Favorable signs were good response to initial therapy and marked tumor sclerosis. MDLLS is most often mistaken for malignant thymoma, seminoma, and Hodgkins disease. Criteria helpful for the recognition of MDLLS are discussed.

Clinical Utility of Lymphocyte Surface Markers Combined with the Lukes-Collins Histologic Classification in Adult Lymphoma

To determine whether analysis of lymphocyte surface markers adds clinically useful information to the Lukes-Collins classification of lymphomas, tumors from 107 adults were histologically classified and studied for surface markers. Ninety-six cases were histologically classified as Lukes-Collins B-cell lymphomas; 87 showed B and one showed T surface markers, whereas eight had neither marker. Eleven lymphomas were histologically T-cell tumors; four of the 11 showed T surface markers, and seven had neither marker. Both the Lukes-Collins classification and surface markers identified patient groups with different clinical characteristics, chemotherapeutic responsiveness and survival. However, by combining surface markers and histologic features, additional important therapeutic and prognostic information was obtained. In each histologic class, patients whose lymphomas failed to express immunologically the histologically predicted marker had fewer responses to chemotherapy and shorter survivals than patients whose lymphomas expressed the predicted marker. Our data suggest that the analysis of surface markers in combination with the Lukes-Collins classification identifies many patients who respond poorly to current therapy and who thus require new therapeutic approaches.