Introduction: Hodgkin lymphoma is a hematologic malignancy that shows excellent prognosis once accurately diagnosed. Its diagnosis provides a challenge to the pathologists, as it has histopathological features that overlap other lymphoid lesions. As a result confirmatory immune-stains are used to either confirm or exclude Hodgkin Lymphoma before starting therapy. Despite the well-established immune panel approved for diagnosing Hodgkin Lymphoma, still some cases are not fitting in a specific category and hence further investigations to reach more sensitive and specific markers are still required. This requirement is very important in Egypt as morbidity and mortality from Hodgkin Lymphoma is high in Africa. This study investigates the validity of GATA3 coupled with CD79a immune-histochemical markers in diagnosing Hodgkin lymphoma.
Material and Methods: Seventy three cases of Hodgkin lymphoma were included in this study: sixty Classic Hodgkin lymphoma cases, ten Nodular Lymphocytic Predominant Hodgkin Lymphoma cases confirmed by the immune staining panel and three Classic Hodgkin Lymphoma cases with atypical immune-staining pattern, excluded from statistics.
Results: GATA3 was expressed in forty-nine out of sixty Classic Hodgkin Lymphoma cases and was completely negative in all Nodular Lymphocytic Predominant Hodgkin Lymphoma cases. CD79a was expressed in all cases of Nodular Lymphocytic Predominant Hodgkin Lymphoma and in only seven cases of CHL cases. Two out of the three Classic Hodgkin Lymphoma cases with atypical immune-staining pattern were positive for GATA3 despite being completely negative for CD15. These three cases were also positive for CD79a.
Conclusions: GATA3 is a good confirmatory marker for Classic Hodgkin Lymphoma, and when coupled with CD79a forms a good panel to differentiate Nodular Lymphocytic Predominant Hodgkin Lymphoma from Classic Hodgkin Lymphoma (GATA3 negative and CD79a positive).