Author/Authors :
Tamiolakis, D Department of Cytopathology - Regional Hospital of Chania, Greece , Nikolaidou, S Department of Cytopathology - Regional Hospital of Chania, Greece , Kotini, A Department of Medical Physics - Democritus University of Thrace - Alexandroupolis, Greece , Jivannakis, T Department of Pathology - Regional Hospital of Drama, Greece , Efthimiadou, A Department of Physiology - Democritus University of Thrace - Alexandroupolis, Greece , Boglou, P Department of Pathology - Ippokrateion Hospital of Salonica, Greece , Bolioti, S Department of Cytopathology - Regional Hospital of Chania, Greece , Venizelos, J Department of Pathology - Ippokrateion Hospital of Salonica, Greece
Abstract :
Bone marrow is infrequently implicated in early stages of Hodgkin’s disease. We studied
the immunohistochemical bone marrow tissue of 7 out of 20 cases with early stage Hodgkin’s disease of
the mixed cellularity variant, diagnosed by lymph node biopsy at initial presentation, not responding to
radiotherapy alone, in order to examine possible marrow attack. A statistically significant prevalence of
CD45, CD45RO, and CD4 positive infiltrates, to the advantage of unremitting hosts, was found. The
predominance of CD4-positive cells in the bone marrow space might be suggestive of involvement in the
process and could explain the abnormal cytokine production leading to reduced T-cell immunity and
inefficient antitumor response despite the existence of a vast majority of reactive infiltrating immune cells.