From the Research
Difference between Hodgkin Lymphoma (HL) and Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma (NHL)
- HL and NHL are two distinct types of lymphoma, with different disease entities and pathogenesis 1, 2
- HL is characterized by the presence of Reed-Sternberg cells, which are altered B lymphocytes 1
- NHL is a diverse collection of malignant neoplasms with lymphoid-cell origin, including all malignant lymphomas that are not classified as HL 3
- The prognosis of a newly diagnosed NHL patient depends on the specific subtype of lymphoma, stage of the disease, and age of the patient 3
- The occurrence of HD and NHL in an individual is unusual, and may indicate a similar cellular origin, regardless of the time interval between the diagnoses 4
Clinical and Molecular Aspects
- Patients who develop both HL and NHL may have separate biologic diseases, rather than a common clonal origin 5
- Gene rearrangement studies have shown that no patient had the same gene rearrangement identified in both diseases 5
- The most common relation is HD preceding a high-grade malignant NHL, often of T-cell phenotype 4
- The next common association is NHL of B-CLL type followed by HD 4
Pathogenesis and Cellular Origin
- The Reed-Sternberg cell may be an altered B lymphocyte, and HL may be clonally related to an underlying B-cell malignancy 1
- The association of nodular sclerosis or mixed cellularity HD and NHL is less common but still significant 1
- EBV is identified more frequently in the NHL of composite NHL + HD, suggesting an origin from a common EBV-infected progenitor cell 1