NON-HODGKIN MALIGNANT LYMPHOMA WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO DESMOSOME-LIKE JUNCTIONS

Seventy-nine cases of non-Hodgkin malignant lymphoma were light and electron microscopically evaluated with special reference to intercellular correlationship comparing with non-neoplastic lymph nodal cells and cultured B cells. Reticulum cells and histiocytes are regarded as an independent cell unit. Reticulum cell sarcoma shows a fibrosarcomatous proliferation with abundant reticulin fibers, while histiocytic sarcoma is confined to a pleomorphic neoplasm with valid phagocytization. Lymphoid cells are divided into large, intermediate and small lymphocytes. Under inflammation and cultivation they, especially intermediate and large, preferentially proliferated clustering in a reticular fashion, which are designated as reticular lymphocytes, in contrast with nonreticular lymphocytes individually separated. The desmosome-like junctions are found among reticular lymphocytes not only in but also outside germinal centers as well as in vessels and among cultured B cells. Lymphocytic sarcomas, either nodular or diffuse, are classified into reticular and nonreticular types in association with their cellular sizes. The desmosome-like junctions are predisposedly disclosed in reticular lymphoma irrespective of proliferating patterns, nodular or diffuse, and of membrane character, B or T. And the junctions are not regarded as a hallmark for follicular or nodular lymphomas of germinal center cell origin.