A study of the properties of a low-grade mucosal B-cell lymphoma using a monoclonal antibody specific for the tumour immunoglobulin

Primary low-grade B-cell lymphomas of mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue (MALT) are tumours with distinctive clinico-pathological characteristics, two of which are studied in this paper, namely the tendency of the tumours to remain localized and the morphologic and phenotypic resemblance of the malignant cells to splenic marginal zone B cells. We have made a detailed study of a small intestinal lymphoma and a gastric lymphoma, which together with the spleen were resected from the same patient. Using a monoclonal antibody (7G3) raised against a unique determinant on the small intestinal tumour, we were able to detect disseminated small intestinal tumour cells in the stomach and spleen. The tumour in the stomach was genetically related, but non-identical to that in the small intestine, and was not recognized by 7G3. Lymphocytes expressing the marker of the small intestinal tumour (7G3) were present in lymphoid nodules in the stomach, and 7G3+ plasma cells were present beneath the gastric epithelium. In the spleen, cells expressing 7G3 were present in the marginal zone and plasma cells expressing the same marker were present in the red pulp. These findings suggest that low-grade MALT lymphomas may migrate beyond the primary tumour site, but that tumour cells distant to the primary site may differentiate into mature, non-dividing plasma cells. The localization of small intestinal tumour cells in the splenic marginal zones reinforces the suggestion of lineage homology between these populations of cells.