This is a 51-year-old male patient with a history of nodular lymphocyte predominant Hodgkin lymphoma (NLPHL). The primary diagnosis of NLPHL was made 9 years prior on a cervical lymph node at that time stage IA (histology: atypical NLPHL). After RTX he was in complete remission. The patient developed coronary artery disease and underwent a bypass operation. Some time after this operation he noticed a slowly growing mass in the left axilla, which was finally excised after few years watchful waiting.
The diagnosis of NLPHL with typical and variant pattern and transformation into diffuse large B cell lymphoma was made. Due to his general condition the patient refused treatment by conventional chemotherapy and received rituximab monotherapy. The lymphoma responded well on this treatment. However, the patient died few years later related to cardiac failure.
Since the patient had watched the lymphoma mass growing for several years, almost all six NLPHL patterns described by Fan et al.1 could be observed in this single lymph node. In some areas, also features reminiscent of T-cell/histiocyte rich large B-cell lymphoma (pattern E according to Fan et al., T-cell/histiocyte rich large B-cell lymphoma-like transformation) were observed. The relatively high of number of small reactive B cells associated with neoplastic large cells, fits well with atypical NLPHL variant with progression when compared with cases of de novo T-cell/histiocyte rich large B-cell lymphoma.
Learning points:
- Atypical NLPHL variants have a higher risk of relapse/progression when compared with typical NLPHL.3
- NLPHL has a risk of transformation into DLBCL of up to 14%, depending on treatment.4,5
- Several atypical NLPHL variants can be found in one lymph node and can morphologically resemble T-cell/histiocyte rich large B-cell lymphoma
References
1. Fan Z, Natkunam Y, Bair E, et al. Characterization of variant patterns of nodular lymphocyte predominant hodgkin lymphoma with immunohistologic and clinical correlation. Am J Surg Pathol. 2003;1346-1356.
2. Hartmann S, Eray M, Doring C, et al. Diffuse large B cell lymphoma derived from nodular lymphocyte predominant Hodgkin lymphoma presents with variable histopathology. BMC Cancer. 2014;332.
3. Hartmann S, Eichenauer DA, Plutschow A, et al. The prognostic impact of variant histology in nodular lymphocyte-predominant Hodgkin lymphoma: a report from the German Hodgkin Study Group (GHSG). Blood. 2013;4246-4252.
4. Al-Mansour M, Connors JM, Gascoyne RD, et al. Transformation to aggressive lymphoma in nodular lymphocyte-predominant Hodgkin's lymphoma. J Clin Oncol. 2010;793-799.
5. Biasoli I, Stamatoullas A, Meignin V, et al. Nodular, lymphocyte-predominant Hodgkin lymphoma: a long-term study and analysis of transformation to diffuse large B-cell lymphoma in a cohort of 164 patients from the Adult Lymphoma Study Group. Cancer. 2010;631-639.
6. Hartmann S, Schuhmacher B, Rausch T, et al. Highly recurrent mutations of SGK1, DUSP2 and JUNB in nodular lymphocyte predominant Hodgkin lymphoma. Leukemia. 2016;844-853.
7. Schuhmacher B, Bein J, Rausch T, et al. JUNB, DUSP2, SGK1, SOCS1 and CREBBP are frequently mutated in T-cell/histiocyte rich large B-cell lymphoma. Haematologica. 2018.