Immunopathology of angioimmunoblastic lymphadenopathy

Eight patients with angioimmunoblastic lymphadenopathy have been studied by a variety of immunological and pathological techniques. They exhibited a spectrum of immunological reactivities that, in this small series, could be roughly correlated with survival. Those patients with relative B-cell predominance as shown by cell marker studies, histologically showed large numbers of plasma cells, and this pattern was associated in 3 of our patients with a survival of 3 years or more. T-cell predominance or both B- and T-cell depletion was associated histologically with large numbers of blast cells and eosinophils, but with few plasma cells. These patients responded poorly to therapy and had short survival times. One patient with B-cell predominance subsequently died of a histiocytic lymphoma.