Wilms' tumor gene 1: a possible new proangiogenic factor in Hodgkin lymphoma

Wilms' tumor gene 1 (WT1) was recently found to play a role in solid and hematologic malignancies and serves as a marker of prognosis and minimal residual disease in acute leukemia. WT1 was also found to be involved in tumor angiogenesis. There are no data concerning the involvement of WT1 in angiogenesis in lymphoproliferative tumors. The aim of this study was to explore the involvement of WT1 in Hodgkin lymphoma.

The expression of WT1, neuropilin 1, and VEGF was tested by immunohistochemistry in lymph nodes biopsies of 20 Hodgkin patients and 7 reactive lymph nodes.

WT1 was expressed in endothelial cells, in 95% of the malignant lymph nodes. The average of WT1 expression scale was higher in the malignant lymph nodes than in reactive lymph nodes. We found a positive correlation between WT1 expression scale and the angiogenesis scale (0.53) that was statistically significant (P<0.05). As the number of vessels increases, the expression of WT1 is more intense.

We found, for the first time, that WT1 is expressed in endothelial cells in Hodgkin lymphoma. The clinical implications of these findings should be tested in a future study.