T-Cell Variant of Classical Hodgkin's Lymphoma with Nodal and Cutaneous Manifestations Demonstrated by Single-Cell Polymerase Chain Reaction

Abstract

The atypical cells of CD30+ cutaneous lymphoproliferative disorders (CD30CLD) are commonly of T-cell origin and frequently have a similar morphology as Hodgkin or Reed-Sternberg cells of Hodgkin's lymphoma (HL). HL is one of the tumors associated with CD30CLD. Although most studies support a B-cell derivation of the tumor cells in HL, recently a few cases of classical HL with T-cell genotype have been reported. We report a patient who presented with CD30CLD whose lymph nodes showed classical HL of mixed cellularity subtype at presentation. By single-cell PCR, the same clonal gene rearrangements of the T cell receptor-β gene locus could be assigned to the CD30+ and CD15+ cells of both skin and lymph node. In a lymph node biopsy specimen taken in relapse after several courses of chemotherapy, the CD30+ tumor cells were abundant. The T cell–derived tumor cells displayed aberrant expression of the Pax-5 gene in all specimens. A common clonal origin of both CD30CLD and HL of the lymph node in the patient presented here suggests that HL with T-cell genotype exists in association with CD30CLD as well as in sporadic cases and may share clonal origin with the skin tumor.