Electron microscopic analysis of lymph node cellular activity in Hodgkin's disease

Five hundred and two cells, selected at random within the pretreatment-involved lymph nodes of patients with the nodular sclerosis type of Hodgkin's disease, were analyzed by electron microscopy for in vivo subcellular activity and intercellular interaction. Subpopulations of neoplastic cells and of lymphocytes were recognized by ultrastructural criteria. Neoplastic cells displayed definite sequences of cell maturation, whereas lymphocytes displayed definite sequences of cell activation. Active lymphocytes were most often found apposed to the more active of the neoplastic cells, and the nuclei of such apposed lymphocytes displayed a progressive preferential asymmetry of distribution of active DNA templates into that half of the lymphocyte nucleus closest to the neoplastic cell. Such close apposition of active polysomal lymphocytes to neoplastic cells may correlate with increased patient survival in Hodgkin's disease.