IMMUNOHISTOCHEMICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF HODGKIN AND REED-STERNBERG CELLS IN RELATION TO AGE AND CLINICAL OUTCOME

One hundred and fifty-four cases of Hodgkin's disease diagnosed between 1985 and 1988 from an unselected population were stained with a panel of six monoclonal antibodies; LN1, MB2, L26 (CD20), all B-cell antibodies, UCHL1 (CD45 RO), mainly T-cell antibody, Leu M1 (CD15), Ber H2 (CD30) and the polyclonal CD3, T-cell antibody. The results were related to age, histopathological subgroup and prognosis. There was no significant difference in staining patterns in the 90 patients below the age of 60 compared with the 54 patients above that age. In the entire group, significantly fewer mixed cellularity cases were positive with Ber H2 and Leu M1 compared to nodular sclerosis. Disease-free survival tended to be better for cases stained with T-cell related antibodies. This study thus indicated differences in behaviour between T-cell positive and negative Hodgkin's disease and that there are antigenic differences between nodular sclerosis and mixed cellularity subgroups. We could not, however, show any phenotypic differences between the tumour cells in young and old patients.