Ribosome-lamella Complexes Research Articles

Hairy-cell leukaemia: an immunoperoxidase study of paraffin-embedded tissues.

Paraffin sections of a variety of tissues from 12 patients with typical hairy-cell leukaemia (HCL) were stained for immunoglobulin heavy and light chains by the peroxidase-antiperoxidase (PAP) technique. Plasma cells were frequent, particularly in a lymph node from a severely infected patient. The reactive nature of the plasma cells of HCL was suggested by the fact that there was no restriction of light-chain expression, although viable hairy cells were shown to express monoclonal surface immunoglobulin. This, together with the absence by both light and electron microscopy of forms intermediate between hairy cells and plasma cells and the lack of ribosome-lamella complexes in the plasma cells, suggested that hairy cells do not differentiate into plasma cells. Although hairy cells are known to contain immunoglobulin, this was not demonstrable in hairy cells in the paraffin-embedded tissue. The PAP technique was also useful for demonstrating abundant splenic macrophages in HCL.

Ribosome lamella complex in neoplastic cells of a Sezary's syndrome.

The first case of ribosome lamella complex (RLC) is reported in abnormal cells of a Sézary's syndrome, a T cell malignancy. Until now this ultrastructural cytoplasmic inclusion has usually been described in hairy cell leukaemia and other lymphoproliferative syndromes of B cell origin. Since RLC are also observed in abnormal lymphoid T cells, in non lymphoid cells, and moreover in non haematopoietic cells, they lack diagnostic specificity.

Hairy Cell Leukemia: Enzyme-histochemical and Ultrastructural Investigation of one Case

The investigation was carried out on blood smears, bone marrow aspirates, one lymph node biopsy, and the surgically removed spleen of a 53-year-old man with hairy cell leukemia. In the blood smears stained with May-Grünwald-Giemsa, 60 to 70% of the hairy cells contained tubular inclusions that corresponded to the ribosome-lamella complexes demonstrated at electron microscopy. In blood smears, imprints and cryostatic sections of the lymph node and of the spleen, hairy cells revealed tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase, beta-glucuronidase and adenosine-triphosphatase activity. In the spleen neutral esterase and alkaline phosphatase demonstrated the numerical increase of the histiocytes, which ultrastructurally displayed phagocytic activity. The presence in the spleen of pseudosinuses lined by hairy cells was confirmed by electron microscopy as well as by cytoenzymology.

Light microscopic identification of the ribosome-lamella complex in "hairy cells" of leukemic reticuloendotheliosis.

Routine hematologic and histologic preparations revealed rod-shaped structures in the cytoplasm of “hairy cells” in 3 of 11 patients with leukemic reticuloendotheliosis. These inclusions are identical with the ribosome-lamella complex seen under the electron microscope in the hairy cells. The cytoplasmic inclusions can be of diagnostic value in the light microscopic differentiation of leukemic reticuloendotheliosis from other leukemias and lymphomas.