Human immunodeficiency virus type 1 in an unusual cystic lymphoepithelial lesion of the lung.

AIMS

We present the clinical and histopathological findings of an unusual pulmonary cystic lymphoepithelial lesion in an HIV sero-positive patient.

METHODS AND RESULTS

The 32-year-old female patient developed two nodules in the vicinity of the right and left hila. Left upper lobectomy showed a 40-mm wide cystic lesion. The cyst wall was lined by a squamous epithelium and lymphoid tissue with a marked follicular hyperplasia and a prominent follicular cell dendritic network expressing HIV major core protein p24.

CONCLUSIONS

The absence of an Epstein-Barr virus infected lymphoid population and monoclonal immunoglobulin gene rearrangement supported the benign nature of the lesion.