Application of MALDI imaging for the diagnosis of classical Hodgkin lymphoma.

Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) is a distinctive lymphoma subtype characterized by rareness of tumor cells [Hodgkin's and Reed-Sternberg (HRS) cells in classical HL and lymphocytic and histiocytic cells in lymphocyte predominant HL] as well as the vast majority of the surrounding inflammatory-like cellular infiltrate. Still the onset of this highly variable disease is not completely understood. Proteome analysis can lead to the identification of potential proteins capable of elucidating malignant growth and survival in HL. Especially MALDI imaging could result in pinpointing differentially expressed proteins, which might represent potential marker molecules. In this study, we were able to distinguish between classical Hodgkin lymphoma and lymphadenitis with a sensitivity and specificity of 83.92 and 89.37%, respectively.