Premium
The relationship between lymphocyte nuclear morphology and cell cycle stage in lymphoid neoplasia
Author(s) -
Diamond Lawrence W.,
Weisenburger Dennis D.,
Rappaport Henry
Publication year - 1981
Publication title -
american journal of hematology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.456
H-Index - 105
eISSN - 1096-8652
pISSN - 0361-8609
DOI - 10.1002/ajh.2830110208
Subject(s) - biology , chromatin , nucleolus , nuclear dna , pathology , lymphoma , population , lymphocyte , cell nucleus , ploidy , mycosis fungoides , dna , microbiology and biotechnology , immunology , nucleus , genetics , medicine , environmental health , gene , mitochondrial dna
A significant percentage of lymphoid cells isolated from three lymphoid neoplasms (nodular lymphoma mixed cell type, mycosis fungoides, and Sézary syndrome) had tetraploid or near‐tetraploid DNA content, as determined by flow cytometric analysis. In each case, a morphologically distinct population of cells with large, irregular nuclei was present, the percentage of which corresponded to the percentage of tetraploid cells. In a fourth case (diffuse “histiocytic” lymphoma), cells were sorted on the basis of DNA content from the G 0 ‐G 1 compartment and compared morphologically to cells sorted from the S‐G 2 (M) compartment. The G 0 ‐G 1 cells had clumped nuclear chromatin, lacked prominent nucleoli, and had a mean nuclear diameter of 10.18 ± 1.22 μm. The sorted cells with S‐G 2 (M) DNA content had one to several prominent nucleoli and less clumped nuclear chromatin, and they were significantly larger, with a mean nuclear diameter of 13.76 ± 1.59 μm (P < 0.00001). These preliminary results suggest that, in lymphoid malignancies, certain morphologic characteristics of individual lymphoid cells are related to their DNA content (level of ploidy) and/or the stage of the cell within its division cycle.