Lymphoproliferation and heterotransplantation in nude mice: tumor cells in Hodgkin's disease.

In the last 3 years we were able to establish four long-term cultures from Hodgkin-derived material [pleural effusions (2), bone marrow (1), and peripheral blood (1)], consisting of cells which represent morphologic and cytochemical as well as cytogenetic features of their in vivo ancestors. Two of these cell lines are described in this paper. These two lines share the same features: non-B-T lymphocytes, non-macrophages, non myeloid cells, EBV genome negative, monoclonality, multiple numerical and structural chromosome aberrations, and tumor formation upon intracranial xenotransplantation in nude mice. The two remaining lines are being characterized at the moment. The common characteristics expressed synonymously in the two described lines suggest that the Hodgkin tumor cell does not seem to share the features of marker-carrying lymphocytes, macrophages, or myeloblasts. The cellular origin of these cells is not clear. The loss of cellular differential markers during the process of possible dedifferentiation is discussed.