Hodgkin's disease, mixed cellularity type, with a B-cell immunophenotype. Report of a case and literature review.

The origin of the Reed-Sternberg cell, the neoplastic cell of Hodgkin's disease, has not been defined. We evaluated a case of Hodgkin's disease, mixed cellularity type, which presented in the retroperitoneum of a 45-year-old woman. Reed-Sternberg cells and Hodgkin's cells expressed the characteristic markers CD15 and CD30. In addition, they expressed the B-cell antigens CD19 and CD20, as well as CD45/leukocyte common antigen. Clonal rearrangement of the immunoglobulin heavy chain gene was detected by Southern blot analysis. These results suggest that some cases of Hodgkin's disease are derived from an activated cell of lymphoid origin. This case documents a close relationship between Hodgkin's disease and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, and it demonstrates that even when newer ancillary techniques are employed these two entities can have overlapping features.