Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) with Reed-Sternberg-like cells vs Classic Hodgkin lymphoma transformation of CLL: does this distinction matter?

ABSTRACT: The distinction between chronic lymphocytic leukemia/small lymphocytic lymphoma (CLL/SLL) with isolated Hodgkin/Reed-Sternberg cells (CLL-HRS; background milieu with a paucity of inflammatory cells) and overt transformation to classic Hodgkin lymphoma (CLL-HL; mixed inflammatory background) is incompletely understood. This retrospective study examined the clinicopathologic features of CLL-HRS (n = 15) and CLL-HL (n = 31) patients seen over the past three decades from a single institution. The phenotypic features of Reed-Sternberg cells in both groups were similar, including expression of CD30, CD15, and PAX5, as well as EBV status. However, a spectrum of background CLL/SLL infiltration amongst the HRS cells was noted on pathologic review, and four patients had both diagnoses, either concur

SUBMITTER: King RL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8799721 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature