A quantitative study of alpha-naphthyl acetate esterase-positive cells in Hodgkin's disease.

The numbers of alpha-naphthyl acetate esterase (ANAE)-positive cells (other than T cells) have been counted in 32 specimens of Hodgkin's disease and two specimens of histiocytic lymphoma. The different Rye subtypes of Hodgkin's disease contain varying numbers of enzyme-positive cells, ranging from 1.8-16% in the lymphocyte-predominant form to 39.8-47% in lymphocyte-depleted Hodgkin's disease. The percentage of enzyme-positive cells in the mixed cellularity variety was from only 6.5 to 14.6%. In the two specimens of apparently genuine histiocytic lymphoma, the enzyme-positive cells constituted 95.2 and 97.5% respectively of all cells. Thus, the numbers of macrophages and macrophage-like cells in true histiocytic lymphoma are much greater than in Hodgkin's disease.