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Nasal T/NK cell lymphomas commonly express perforin and Fas ligand: important mediators of tissue damage
Author(s) -
OHSHIMA K.,
SUZUMIYA J.,
SHIMAZAKI K.,
KATO A.,
TANAKA T.,
KANDA M.,
KIKUCHI M.
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
histopathology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.626
H-Index - 124
eISSN - 1365-2559
pISSN - 0309-0167
DOI - 10.1046/j.1365-2559.1997.2880887.x
Subject(s) - perforin , cytotoxic t cell , fas ligand , t cell lymphoma , interleukin 21 , biology , lymphoma , cancer research , natural killer cell , immunology , t cell , cd8 , apoptosis , immune system , programmed cell death , in vitro , biochemistry
Aims: Two molecular mechanisms of T/natural killer (NK) cell‐mediated cytotoxicity, one perforin based and the other Fas based, have been demonstrated, and both systems induce cytotoxicity in the target cells. The Fas‐based mechanism involves the transducing molecule Fas and its ligand (FasL). In addition, perforin and/or FasL are also expressed in the cytotoxic T/NK cells. This study was thus designed to investigate the Fas and perforin pathways of the cytotoxic T/NK lymphoma cells in the nasal cavity. Methods and results: Eight patients with nasal lymphoma were analysed using immunohistochemical staining methods. Two cases were CD3+ CD56+ (T/NK cell) type, and six were CD3− CD56+ (NK cell) type. All cases showed Epstein–Barr virus genomes by in‐situ hybridization. In addition, all cases showed the expression of TIA‐1 (GMP‐17), which is a marker of cytotoxic T and NK cells. FasL was expressed in the majority of the lymphoma cells and some histiocytes, while Fas was found in lymphoma cells and many non‐neoplastic cells. In addition, the expression of perforin was detected in almost all lymphoma cells. In the double stainings, lymphoma cells expressed both FasL and perforin. Based on these findings, both the perforin‐ and Fas‐based pathway of the cytotoxic T/NK lymphoma cells are thus considered to play an important role in the clinical features. Conclusions: Tissue damage is a common morphological feature in nasal T/NK cell lymphoma. The above findings therefore support the theory that tissue damage is due to both the cytotoxicity of T/NK lymphoma cells as well as to angiocentricity.