Institute of Human Genetics, University Hospital Schleswig-Holstein, Campus Kiel/Christian-Albrechts-University Kiel, Schwanenweg 24 D-24105 Kiel, Germany.
J Clin Oncol. 2011 May 10;29(14):1835-43. doi: 10.1200/JCO.2010.32.8385. Epub 2011 Apr 11.
It has long been recognized that the border between classical Burkitt's lymphoma (BL) and classical diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) is hard to determine. Instead, both classical lymphoma entities seem to be the extreme ends of a spectrum of diseases that contains a group of lymphomas characterized predominately by the fact that they are hard to assign to the one or the other group. This gray zone has been recently termed "lymphoma, unclassifiable, with features intermediate between DLBCL and BL" by the updated WHO classification. The term "intermediate" resembles that from a recent gene-expression study of mature aggressive B-cell lymphomas, although, notably, it is used differently. Intermediate lymphomas according to the WHO classification clearly are a temporary container of different biologic subtypes of aggressive lymphoma, from which several might be associated with an unfavorable clinical outcome. The present review aims at describing the morphologic, clinical, and biologic heterogeneity of the intermediate lymphomas and, moreover, attempts to propose testable subgroups based on age and presence of genetic aberrations.
长期以来，人们一直认为经典伯基特淋巴瘤（BL）和经典弥漫性大 B 细胞淋巴瘤（DLBCL）之间的界限难以确定。相反，这两种经典淋巴瘤实体似乎是疾病谱的两个极端，其中一组淋巴瘤的主要特征是难以归入其中一个或另一个组。最近，WHO 分类将这一灰色地带定义为“无法分类的淋巴瘤，具有介于 DLBCL 和 BL 之间的特征”。术语“中间”类似于最近一项成熟侵袭性 B 细胞淋巴瘤的基因表达研究，但值得注意的是，其用法不同。根据 WHO 分类，中间型淋巴瘤显然是侵袭性淋巴瘤不同生物学亚型的临时容器，其中一些可能与不良临床结局相关。本综述旨在描述中间型淋巴瘤的形态、临床和生物学异质性，并尝试基于年龄和遗传异常提出可测试的亚组。
