[Origin of the tumor cells in lymphogranulomatosis]

Tumor cells in lymphogranulomatosis include Hodgkin's cells, Berezovsky-Shternberg cells and variants thereof representing a single population characterized by aneuploidy, polyploidy, and marker chromosomes. All cells of this clone are capable of DNA synthesis and mitotic division. As the disease progresses, the number of tumor cells increases gradually. Their origin is still obscure. The hypotheses of their origin from B-lymphocytes because of the presence in them of cytoplasmic and surface immunoglobulins and also from macrophages because cells of tissue culture from tumor nodes were found to have nonspecific esterase, lysozyme, capacity for phagocytosis seem to be substantiated.