[Which are the proliferating cells in Hodgkin's disease?]

This investigation characterizes the proliferating cells in Hodgkin's disease. We used the antibody PC 10 which reacts with the proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) and works on paraffin sections in combination with B- and T-cell markers in a double-staining technique. In all 38 cases of Hodgkin's disease (lymphocyte predominant type n = 10, nodular sclerosis type n = 10, mixed cellularity type n = 10, lymphocyte depletion type n = 8) a high percentage of the Hodgkin and Sternberg-Reed cells (95%-97%) expressed PCNA. There was no statistical significance between the different types. In contrast, only a small amount of the reactive lymphocytes (2.8%-3.4%) demonstrated positivity for PCNA in the four types of Hodgkin's disease. Nearly all of these lymphocytes were T-lymphocytes.