Malignant large cell lymphoma of B-cell type with multilobated nuclei. Report of a case and review of the literature.

Malignant lymphomas with multilobated nuclei are rare, recently recognized neoplasms of the immune system initially thought to be of T-cell type. Reported is a case of large cell lymphoma with multilobated nuclei in which immunologic marker studies demonstrated that the neoplastic cells had characteristics of B-lymphocytes. The neoplastic cells possessed surface and cytoplasmic immunoglobulin of the IgG, lambda type, and stained diffusely with monoclonal antibodies to B1, Leu-10 and OKIaI antigens and focally with anti-B2. The lymphoma cells did not react with monoclonal antibodies directed against T-cells and monocytes/granulocytes. As documented here with multiple monoclonal antibody lymphocyte markers, the multilobated lymphoma can have a B-cell phenotype as well as the cell phenotype described previously. Thus, even the unique finding of multilobated nuclear morphologic features is unreliable in predicting the lymphocyte lineage.