An Immunohistochemical Study on the Expression of the Bauhinia Purpurea in the Reed-Sternberg Cells

ABSTRACT

The diagnosis of Hodgkin's disease is based on the morphologic identification of Reed-Sternberg (RS) cells and its variants in paraffin-embedded sections. The origin of RS cells remains a subject of controversy, and cells resembling RS cells are observed in some non-Hodgkin's lymphoma of T-cell lineage. In this study, eighteen cases of Hodgkin's disease (3 nodular sclerosis, 6 diffuse lymphocyte predominance, and 9 mixed cellularity) were studied with peanut agglutinin(PNA), anti-Leu-M1(CD15), LN2(CD74), Ber-H2(CD30) and bauhinia purpurea (BPA) by the avidin-biotin-peroxidase complex(ABC) method in paraffin-embedded sections. RS cells and their variants revealed positive reactions with one or more of the reagents in all examined cases. BPA staining was positive in 17 of 18 cases (94.4%), PNA staining was positive in 9 of 18 cases (50.0%), Leu MI was positive in 7 of 18 cases(38.9%), Ber-H2 was positive in 11 of 18 cases (61.1%), and LN2 was positive in 8 of 18 cases(44.4%). The staining properties of examined markers were recognized as paranuclear, diffuse cytoplasmic and cellular membranous patterns, but LN2 disclosed diffuse cytoplasmic staining in the positive cells. BPA also showed dense cytoplasmic staining reaction with macrophage-histiocytes. BPA reactivity was not affected by fortnalin fixation or paraffm embedding. Thirty six cases of non-Hodgkin's lymphomas(IO T-cell and 26 B-cell type) were also examined. The neoplastic cells of those cases did not stain positive with BPA, PNA, and Leu-Mi, but stained positively with LN2 in 3 cases of T-cell lymphomas and 14 cases of B-cell lymphomas, and BeT-H2 in T-cell lymphomas. In conclusion, to facilitate the detection of RS cells and related variants in paraffm sectionse of Hodgkin's disease, BPA can be used as a useful marker because of its high-detection rate, reproducible staining pattem, and resistance to fixative.