Follicular dendritic cells in follicular lymphoma and types of non-Hodgkin lymphoma show reduced expression of CD23, CD35 and CD54 but no association with clinical outcome

Mi Kyung Jin (1) , Eva Hoster (2) , Martin Dreyling (2) , Michael Unterhalt (2) , Wolfgang Hiddemann (2) , Wolfram Klapper (3)

1 Department of Pathology, Haematopathology Section and Lymph Node Registry
2 Department of Internal Medicine III
3 Department of Pathology, Hematopathology Section and Lymph Node Registry

Aims: Follicular dendritic cells (FDC) are specialized antigen-presenting cells exclusively found in the germinal center (GC) which can be detected in B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphomas (NHL) as reactive bystander cells. Recently, gene expression profiling revealed that FDC networks might be associated with the clinical outcome in follicular lymphoma. Herein we aimed to characterize FDC in NHL and to evaluate a possible association with outcome in follicular lymphoma. Methods and Results: We determined semi-quantitatively the extent and the immunophenotype of FDC in reactive GC and NHL (follikular lymphoma, angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma, mantle cell lymphoma) using fluorescence-double staining and digital image analysis. In all NHL tested, CD23 and CD35 and CD54 were expressed at relatively low levels on FDC, comparable to FDC found in the dark zone of the GC. However, the extent of FDC networks did not correlate with the clinical outcome of 102 patients with follicular lymphomas treated within a prospectively randomized trial. Conclusions: We conclude that FDC found in different types of NHL show quantitatively reduced expression of several proteins suggestive for functional differences between FDC in normal GC and NHL. The extent of the FDC networks in follicular lymphoma is not useful as a prognostic marker.

Mots clés: Medicine

Mi Kyung Jin, Eva Hoster, Martin Dreyling, Michael Unterhalt, Wolfgang Hiddemann, et al.. Follicular dendritic cells in follicular lymphoma and types of non-Hodgkin lymphoma show reduced expression of CD23, CD35 and CD54 but no association with clinical outcome. Histopathology, 2011, 58 (4), pp.586. ⟨10.1111/j.1365-2559.2011.03779.x⟩. ⟨hal-00623321⟩