Immunoenzymatic assessment of interferon-gamma in Hodgkin and Sternberg-Reed cells

The typical histological picture seen in Hodgkin's disease is consistent with the release of cytokines and other active mediators by the malignant cells, i.e., Hodgkin and Sternberg-Reed cells. Since interferon-gamma is regarded as an important regulator of the cytokine cascade, we have undertaken an immunohistological assessment of this mediator in Hodgkin's disease tissue biopsies. In approximately 50% of the cases investigated we found Hodgkin and Sternberg-Reed cells to be positive with antibodies against interferon-gamma. These in situ findings were substantiated by immunostaining of Hodgkin's disease-derived cell lines L428 and L540. L540 was consistently positive, whereas L428 was negative. It is noteworthy that L428 exhibit a B-cell pheno- and genotype, whereas L540 is of T-cell origin. These data are consistent with theories that propose that cytokine production by tumour cells is central to the pathogenesis of Hodgkin's lymphoma.