ABORTIVE MITOSES AND NUCLEAR-DNA FRAGMENTATION IN CD30-DISEASE( LARGECELLS OF HODGKINS)

This study was undertaken to better comprehend the reasons for the sca rcity of Hodgkin and Reed-Sternberg (H-RS) cells in Hodgkin's disease (HD) despite their expression of ''proliferation-associated antigens'' . To this end, we assessed the relative frequency of mitotic phases an d nuclear damage (detected by in situ end-labeling of DNA strand break s) in CD30(+) large cells of nodular sclerosis and mixed cellularity H D. Our results show that a) most CD3(+) cells in HD exhibit abortive m itoses, with a highly significant arrest at the metaphase-ana/telophas e transition, and b) many of these elements, i.e. mainly H-RS cells, s how fragmentation of nuclear DNA, suggesting imminent or actual death. Percentages of CD30(+) cells that entered mitosis and those with DNA strand breaks were of a similar order of magnitude and correlated sign ificantly in a linear fashion. These findings are consistent with the concept that cell deletion is the major cause of the paucity of H-RS c ells in HD.