CD30-POSITIVE CUTANEOUS LARGE-CELL LYMPHOMAS - A COMPARATIVE-STUDY OFCLINICOPATHOLOGICAL AND MOLECULAR-FEATURES OF 16 CASES

The authors have analyzed and compared the clinicopathologic and molec ular features of 16 cases of large cell cutaneous lymphomas expressing CD30 antigen. Three main clinical groups were defined: (1) a group of localized skin disease (7 cases); (2) a group of multicentric skin di sease (5 cases); and (3) a group of concomitant skin and extracutaneou s disease. Good prognosis was associated with localized skin disease a nd no history of lymphoma. Interestingly, a majority of Reed Sternberg -like cells was only observed in this group (5 of 6 cases). The two ot her groups did not show distinctive evolutive nor morphologic features . Southern blot and/or polymerase chain reaction (PCR)technique showed clonality and a T-cell genotype in respectively 13 of 14 and 12 of 12 analyzed cases. Viral infection of tumoral cells was investigated by PCR, in situ hybridization (ISH) or electron microscopy, Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) sequences were detected by PCR and ISH in tumoral cells of cutaneous lesions in one case of skin lymphoma with extracutaneous sp reading. No EBV sequence was detected by ISH in the localized lymphoma s, whereas HIV particles sere visible in tumoral cells in one of these cases. No human T-cell lymphotropic virus (HTLV) tax sequence was amp lified by PCR in any case of our series. Our results confirm that CD30 -positive cutaneous large cell lymphomas are different clinical and mo lecular entities, However, a combined clinical and morphologic analysi s may help to identify a subset of CD30 cutaneous lymphomas with favor able prognosis.