How do we define Hodgkin’s disease? The authors’ reply
- S A Pileri1,
- E Sabattini1,
- S Ascani1,
- P L Zinzani1,
- B Falini2
- 1Pathological Anatomy, Pathology, and Clinical Lymphoma Unit, Institute of Haematology and Clinical Oncology “L. and A. Seràgnoli”, Bologna University, 40138 Bologna, Italy
- 2Institute of Haematology, Perugia University, 06100 Perugia, Italy
We have read with interest the eletter by Dr Naresh dated 26 March1 in response to our earlier review.2 This letter dealt with the problem of the borders between classic Hodgkin’s lymphoma (cHL) and anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALCL) and suggested that the proponents of the World Health Organisation (WHO) classification had a more flexible attitude towards cHL than ALCL.3 We believe that the WHO classification simply reflects the philosophy of the revised European–American (REAL) classification of lymphoid neoplasms, by drawing up a list of entities that can be readily recognised with the techniques available at the moment, which are defined by the amalgamation of cell morphology, phenotype, cytogenetics, molecular data, and clinical findings.4 This list can be easily updated, whenever new validated information becomes available in the literature.
We believe that the present scenario of cHL is much more homogeneous than the one depicted for ALCL. In fact, most if not all examples of cHL have a germinal centre cell derivation, as shown by molecular data and B cell specific activator protein (BSAP) expression,5 with cases of T cell origin being exceptional and still a matter of speculation.2 In …
