Circulating malignant cells in non-Hodgkin's lymphoma: correlation with
binding by peanut agglutinin
DS Weinberg, KA Ault and GS Pinkus
Department of Pathology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA 02115.
A significant number of patients with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma have
peripheral blood involvement during the course of their disease. Because
the expression of receptor for the lectin peanut agglutinin PNA by normal
lymphocytes is associated with noncirculating (stationary phase) cells, we
studied the relationship between PNA binding by lymphoma cells and the
presence of clonal B cells in the blood of 38 patients with B-cell
lymphoma. The binding of PNA by cells in tissues was determined by the
immunoperoxidase method and by two-color flow cytometry. Circulating
lymphoma cells (clonal B cells) were identified by a sensitive
flow-cytometric technique (kappa-lambda analysis) and were also studied for
PNA binding in some cases. In all, 16 of 38 (42%) of lymphomas were PNA+,
including a spectrum of histologic types. Circulating lymphoma cells were
demonstrated in 17 of 22 PNA-lymphomas, whereas only 3 of 16 of PNA+
lymphomas had such circulating cells. Thus, there is a significant
association between PNA binding and peripheral blood involvement by
lymphoma (P less than .005 by chi- square analysis). In 12 cases, the
circulating and tissue lymphoma cells had similar expression of PNA
receptor (2 PNA+ and 10 PNA- cases), indicating that modulation of the PNA
binding sites did not occur. In three patients who presented with
lymphosarcoma cell leukemia, the circulating malignant cells were PNA-.
These findings suggest that for both normal and malignant lymphocytes the
absence of binding sites for PNA is associated with the capacity of these
cells to circulate freely.
Volume 72,
Issue 2,
pp. 698-704,
08/01/1988
Copyright © 1988 by The American Society of Hematology
