Article Text

Download PDFPDF
Three coexisting lymphomas in one patient: genetically related or only a coincidence?
  1. M Steinhoff1,
  2. C Assaf1,
  3. I Anagnostopoulos2,
  4. C C Geilen1,
  5. H Stein2,
  6. M Hummel2
  1. 1Department of Dermatology and Allergy, Charité–Universitaetsmedizin Berlin, Campus Benjamin Franklin, Berlin, Germany
  2. 2The Institute of Pathology, Charité–Universitaetsmedizin Berlin
  1. Correspondence to:
 M Steinhoff
 Department of Dermatology and Allergy, Charité–University Medicine Berlin, Campus Benjamin Franklin, Fabeckstrasse 60–62, Berlin 14195, Germany;matthias.steinhoff{at}charite.de

Abstract

The simultaneous manifestation of different lymphomas in the same patient or even in the same tissue, defined as composite lymphoma, is very rare. The exceptional case of a patient who, presented with simultaneous manifestation of three different lymphomas after 30 years of successful treatment of a nodal T cell lymphoma is reported here. The three lymphomas were: (1) primary cutaneous marginal zone B cell lymphoma (MZBL); (2) nodal Epstein–Barr virus (EBV)-associated classic Hodgkin’s lymphoma (cHL) of the B cell type; and (3) peripheral T cell lymphoma coexisting in the skin and cervical lymph node. Immunohistochemical and molecular analyses showed different clonal origins of EBV-negative cutaneous MZBL and EBV-positive B cell cHL and, in addition, the presence of the same clonal T cell population in the skin and lymph node. The simultaneous occurrence of three different, clonally unrelated lymphomas in one patient at the same time has not been reported yet.

  • ALPS, autoimmune lymphoproliferative syndrome
  • APAAP, alkaline phosphatase anti-alkaline-phosphatase
  • cHL, classic Hodgkin’s lymphoma
  • EBV, Epstein–Barr virus
  • HRS, Hodgkin’s and Reed–Sternberg
  • IgH, immunoglobulin H
  • MZBL, marginal zone B cell lymphoma
  • TCL, T cell lymphoma
  • TCR, T cell antigen receptor

Statistics from Altmetric.com

Request Permissions

If you wish to reuse any or all of this article please use the link below which will take you to the Copyright Clearance Center’s RightsLink service. You will be able to get a quick price and instant permission to reuse the content in many different ways.

Footnotes

  • Competing interests: None.