Y. Sadahira et al., EXPRESSION OF CYTOTOXIC MOLECULE TIA-1 IN MALIGNANT-LYMPHOMAS MIMICKING FULMINANT-HEPATITIS, Pathology international, 48(9), 1998, pp. 695-704
Involvement of malignant lymphoma in the liver inducing fulminant hepa
tic failure has rarely been reported, Therefore, a close association b
etween some lymphoma types with severe liver damage and the mechanism
underlying the liver damage is intriguing. Three malignant lymphoma ca
ses, which were clinically diagnosed as fulminant hepatitis, were coll
ected from the autopsy records of Kawasaki Medical School (Kurashiki,
Japan), All three cases were characterized by the presence of hepatosp
lenomegaly without superficial lymph node swelling, high elevation of
transaminase and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH; especially LDH-2), and a
quite aggressive clinical course. Immunohistochemically, the tumor cel
ls in all three cases were positive for T cell intracellular antigen (
TIA-1), which is a cytolytic protein in cytotoxic T and natural killer
(NK) cells. The lymphomas were CD8(+) peripheral T cell lymphoma (cas
e 1), CD56(+) T/NK cell lymphoma (case 2), and T cell lymphoma in a pa
tient with mosquito hypersensitivity (case 3), Epstein-Barr virus infe
ction was demonstrated on the tumor cells of cases 2 and 3 using an in
situ hybridization method and those cases showed high titers of serum
interferon-gamma and Fas. Frequent apoptosis of liver cells, where th
e lymphoma cells had infiltrated, was revealed by a terminal deoxyribo
syl transferase-mediated deoxyuridine nick end-labeling (TUNEL) method
, The findings in this study suggest that fulminant hepatic injury is
closely associated with cytotoxic molecule TIA-1 expression of the lym
phoma cells and that some specific mechanism may be involved in liver
damage.