Identification of human lymphoma cells by antisera to malignancy-
associated nucleolar antigens
RJ Ford, M Cramer and FM Davis
The non-Hodgkin's lymphomas (NHL) are a diverse group of human lymphoid
neoplasms that have long presented pathologists with formidable diagnostic
challenges. These tumors of the immune system are thought to represent
neoplastic transformations of most of the recognized stages in T and B
lymphocyte ontogeny. Lymphoma cells, however, often simulate their normal
lymphocytic counterparts both morphologically and cell surface
phenotypically, creating difficulties in discriminating normal from
neoplastic lymphocytes. We have used heteroantisera to the human
malignancy-associated nucleolar antigen (HMNA) to prospectively evaluate
its efficacy in identifying the morphologically neoplastic cells in NHL
lesions. In 65 cases of T and B cell histopathologic types of NHL, the
antisera reacted with nucleoli in the morphologically and cytogenetically
neoplastic lymphoma cells, but not with normal- appearing lymphoid and
other cell types present in the lesions. Control specimens from normal and
hyperplastic lymphoid tissue also failed to react with anti-HMNA
antibodies. Normal activated lymphoid cells in vitro and
growth-factor-dependent normal lymphoid cell lines also failed to express
the nucleolar antigen(s). These data suggest that the HMNA is a valuable
tumor cell marker for neoplastic human lymphoid cell populations and can be
used with other types of cell markers for a better definition of the
neoplastic cells in NHL.
Volume 63,
Issue 3,
pp. 559-565,
03/01/1984
Copyright © 1984 by The American Society of Hematology
