Macrophages and interdigitating reticulum cells in normal thymus and in thymoma: an immunohistochemical study

The distribution and immunophenotype of macrophages and interdigitating reticulum cells were investigated on frozen sections of seven normal thymuses and 10 thymomas. In normal thymus, macrophages were mainly located in the cortex, were markedly PAM-1+/MAC+, weakly Leu-M3+ (CD14), T4+ (CD4), T9+ and OKM-1+ (CD11b). Interdigitating reticulum cells were mainly located in the medulla and were pan-Leu+ (CD45), T4+(CD4+), HLA-DR+; furthermore, they were also often TAC+ (CD25) and T9+. Thymomas were composed of cytokeratin-containing epithelial cells admixed with variable proportions of T6+ (CD1a) lymphocytes. As defined by the histological features two thymomas were lymphocyte-rich, five were mixed type and three were epithelial-rich; eight thymomas were mainly composed of cortical epithelial cells and two were composed of spindle epithelial cells suggesting a medullary origin. In all cases, thymoma-associated macrophages were markedly PAM-1+/MAC+; they were numerous, and regularly distributed throughout the tumour. The density of macrophages per unit area was similar to that of the normal thymus, and was not influenced by the histological type or by the lymphocyte content of the tumour. Interdigitating reticulum cells were few and were confined to the areas of medullary differentiation.