Hodgkin lymphoma and its differential diagnoses

		Nodular lymphcyte predominance Hodgkin lymphoma	T-cell Histiocyte Rich Large B-Cell Lymphoma	Classical Hodgkin Lymphoma	Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma	Anaplastic Large Cell Lymphoma
RS cells	CD2	negative	negative	negative	negative	most cases positive
	CD3	negative	negative	10% of cases positive	negative	minority of cases positivemembrane or dot-like positivity
	CD15	negative	negative	most cases positive	negative	rarely focally positive
	CD20	almost all cases positive	almost all cases positive	40% of cases show positivity of a minority of cells	positive	negative
	CD30	rare cases weakly positive	rare cases weakly positive	positive	minority of cases positive	positive
	CD43	negative	negative	negative	minority of cases positive	most cases positive
	CD45	positive	positive	negative	positive	most cases positive
	CD79a	positive	most cases positive	rare cases positive	positive	negative
	BSAP	positive	positive	90% cases positive	positive	negative
	J chain	most cases positive	most cases positive	negative	minority of cases positive	negative
	Ig	most cases positive	most cases positive	negative, except for absorption of Ig	minority of cases positive	negative
	BOB.1	positive	positive	negative	positive	not known
	Oct-2	strongly positive	strongly positive	strongly positive in <5% of cases	positive	not known
	EMA	most cases positive	most cases positive	weak expression in 5% of cases	minority of cases positive	most cases positive
	ALK	negative	negative	negative	negative	most cases positive
	perforin / granzyme B	negative	negative	rare cases positive	negative	positive in almost all cases
	CBF.78			rare cells positive in minority of cases		80-90% of cases positive
	BHN.9			5% cases positive		60% cases positiveresults dependent on fixative used
	TRAF1	0/152		21/252	2/362	1/172
	c-Rel	3/152		23/252	12/332	1/152
	Positivty for both TRAF1 and c-Rel	0/142		20/252	2/332	0/152
	Ig gene rearrangement	+	+	positive in 2% of cases	positive	negative
	MIB/Ki67 expression	high	high	high
reactive component	EBV	negative	negative	variable
	bcl6/CD57 rosettes	numerous	negative	most cases		negative
	Amount of TIA1 positive cells	low	very high	most cases		minority of cases
	Amount of CD20-positive small lymphocytes	high	low
	Histiocytes	some	variable
	FDC	positive

References

World Health Organization Classification of Tumours, Tumours of the haematopoietic and lymphoid tissues, IARC Press 2001.

1 Pileri, S. A., S. Ascani, et al. (2002). "Hodgkin's lymphoma: the pathologist's viewpoint." J Clin Pathol 55(3): 162-76.

2 Rodig SJ, Savage KJ, Nguyen V, et al. TRAF1 expression and c-Rel activation are useful adjuncts in distinguishing classical Hodgkin lymphoma from a subset of morphologically or immunophenotypically similar lymphomas. Am J Surg Pathol 2005; 29:196-203

This page last revised 26.5.2007.