True histiocytic lymphoma of small intestine. Analysis of two S-100 protein-positive cases with features of interdigitating reticulum cell sarcoma.

Two cases of true histiocytic lymphoma of the small intestine occurred in middle-aged patients, manifesting as tumors causing intestinal obstruction. One of the patients died of uncontrollable local and metastatic disease, 16 months after surgery and polychemotherapy, and the other patient is alive 12 months after surgery and chemotherapy. The histologic characteristics of the tumor cells, namely complex nuclear outlines and abundant variably eosinophilic cytoplasm, suggested histiocytic differentiation. Both cases had negative results for B-cell and T-cell markers but stained for the histiocytic markers lysozyme, CD68, and HLA-DR and had positive results for S-100 protein and vimentin. Acetone-fixed frozen sections of one case showed positive results for several histiocytic markers, including CD11c, CD14, CD33, CD68, and BerMac3 (unclustered monoclonal antibody). CD4, a T-cell antigen present in a subset of histiomonocytic cells, had positive results in the cytoplasm. The tumor cells had negative results for CD1a, CD15, and CD30. Immunoglobulin and T-cell receptor gene probes showed germline configuration in one case studied. These results indicate the tumors are true histiocytic lymphomas, which have immunophenotypic features of both ordinary histiocytes and interdigitating reticulum cells.