LYMPHOMATOID PAPULOSIS - A CUTANEOUS PROLIFERATION OF ACTIVATED HELPER T-CELLS EXPRESSING HODGKINS DISEASE-ASSOCIATED ANTIGENS

  • 1 January 1985
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 119  (2) , 315-325
Abstract
A distinctive immunologic phenotype was demonstrated for the characteristic large atypical cells in skin lesions of 9 patients with lymphomatioid papulosis (LP). Coexpression of Hodgkin''s disease (HD)-associated antigen(s) Ki-1, and often Leu-M1, with helper T-cell antigens T11, T4 and T3 and cellular activation antigens Tac, Ia, and T9 was the most common phenotype, observed in 6 of 9 cases. In 2 cases T-cell-specific antigens were not detected, and the phenotype was indistinguishable from Reed-Sternberg(RS) cells of HD. Numerous Ki-1 positive cells and infrequent expression of Leu-1 antigen by large atypical cells in LP cases facilitated the differential diagnosis between LP and mycosis fungioides. A possible transition between small, medium and large cells expressing only T-cell antigens and large transformed RS-like cells expressing both T-cell and HD-associated antigens was shwon by immunoelectron microscopy diagnosis of LP and may help to explain the unexpectedly frequent clinical association of LP, mycosis fungoides, and HD.