LEU-M1 ANTIGEN EXPRESSION IN T-CELL NEOPLASIA

  • 1 January 1985
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 121  (3) , 374-380
Abstract
The Leu-M1 antigen has been recently proposed as a valuable immunodiagnostic marker of the Reed-Sternberg cells of Hodgkin''s disease and to be particularly helpful in distinguishing Hodgkin''s disease from other lymphoproliferative disorders such as peripheral T-cell lymphomas. In this study, the authors examined paraffin-embedded tissue sections obtained from 38 patients with previously well-characterized T-cell neoplasms for the presence of the Leu-M1 antigen. The cases comprised a spectrum of T-cell malignancies and were divided into four broad clinicopathologic groups: lymphoblastic lymphoma/leukemias (6), mature T-cell leukemias (3), peripheral T-cell lymphomas (11), and cutaneous T-cell lymphomas (18), which included both mycosis fungoides and non-mycosis fungoides types. The neoplastic T cells in 19 patients (50%) expressed the Leu-M1 antigen. The proportion of Leu-M1-positive cells and the immunostaining pattern varied greatly among these cases but correlated with mature, postthymic stages of T-cell differentiation and activation. Of particular significance was the observation that the more pleomorphic neoplastic T cells, including Reed-Sternberg-like cells, exhibited an intense cytoplasmic and membranous staining pattern which was often indistinguishable from the immunostaining pattern observed in Hodgkin''s disease. The authors conclude that Leu-M1 is not a specific immunodiagnostic marker of Hodgkin''s disease and has limited value in distinguishing Hodgkin''s disease from T-cell neoplasms which stimulate Hodgkin''s disease morphologically.