Demonstration of Immunoglobulin Production by Tumor Cells in Non-Hodgkin’s and Hodgkin’s Malignant Lymphomas and Its Significance for Their Classification

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Abstract
A tumor classification should be both reliable and reproducible. Each type of tumor differentiated by the classification should be uniform in cellular origin and clinical, pathoanatomic, prognostic, and therapeutic features. Since it has become obvious that a lymphoma classification based on morphology alone does not fulfill all of these criteria, we attempted to elucidate the cellular origin of lymphatic neoplasms by means of a combined investigation of morphologic properties and immunologic characteristics. On the basis of these studies, we revised the current concepts for classifying non-Hodgkin’s lymphomas. This revised concept was called the Kiel classification [12]. Table 1 presents the latest revision of the Kiel classification. In this paper, we shall describe the most common immunoglobulin-(Ig-) producing lymphoma types of the Kiel classification and the most important immunochemical and immunologic findings that led to the differentiation of these entities. We shall also present some recent immunohistochemical findings in Hodgin’s lymphomas. In contrast to non-Hodgkin’s lymphomas, which are usually monoclonal proliferations from the beginning, or at least from the time of first biopsy, our findings provide evidence that Hodgin’s disease is a primary, polyclonal B-cell proliferation that tends to develop into a monoclonal neoplasm.