Lipid content of malignant lymphomas
Makerere University College Medical School, Kampala, Uganda
Lipid staining, using oil red 0 and Sudan black B stain, was carried out on frozen sections of formalin-fixed tumour tissue from 142 cases of malignant lymphoma. Most cases of Burkitt's tumour contained abundant coarse lipid droplets both within the cytoplasm of the lymphoid cells and within non-neoplastic histiocytes scattered throughout the tumour. Lymphocytic lymphomas contained little stainable fat. Histiocytic and stem-cell lymphomas were almost equally divided between those containing abundant lipid droplets and those devoid of lipid. It is suggested that the demonstration of abundant cytoplasmic lipid droplets may assist in the diagnosis of Burkitt's tumour although this feature is not in itself diagnostic. The significance of the lipid droplets in the cells of Burkitt's tumour is discussed in relation to the histogenesis of the tumour.
Register for free content
The full back archive is now available for all BMJ Journals. Institutional subscribers may access the entire archive as part of their subscription. Personal subscribers will also have access to all content when logged in. Non-subscribers who register have free access to all articles published before 2006 right back to volume 1 issue 1. Register here to access the free archive of all BMJ Journals.
Don't forget to sign up for content alerts so you keep up to date with all the articles as they are published.
