Expression of the intestinal T‐lymphocyte associated molecule HML‐1: analysis of 75 non‐Hodgkin's lymphomas and description of the first HML‐1 positive T‐lymphoblastic tumour

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Abstract
The expression of the gut intra‐epithelial T‐cell associated molecule HML‐1, a trimeric protein of 150, 125, 105 kD, was studied in 75 T‐cell lymphomas of different subtypes: 20 T‐lymphoblastic lymphomas/leukaemias; 50 nodal peripheral T‐cell lymphomas; and five intestinal T‐cell lymphomas. Our results confirm: (i) the usefulness of the HML‐1 monoclonal antibody as an immunohistochemical marker for intestinal T‐cell lymphomas; and (ii) the lack of reactivity of HML‐1 with nodal peripheral T‐cell lymphomas. Moreover, expression of the HML‐1 molecule was found for the first time in a case of T‐lymphoblastic lymphoma/leukaemia. The patient presented with a mediastinal mass which consisted of HML‐1 + neoplastic cells displaying a phenotypic profile consistent with early thymocytes. Genes coding for the α, β, γ, and δ chains of the T‐cell receptor were in a germline configuration. The neoplastic cells could have been derived from the small subset of HML‐1 + thymocytes detectable in the cortex of normal human thymus.