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In the course of a routine clinical check up of the 54 year old male a splenic well circumscribed tumor like mass of 12 cm in diameter was discovered. Splenectomy with removal of splenic hilar lymph nodes and liver wedge biopsy were performed. Four years later the patient is symptom free. In the removed spleen the tumor like lesion showed a pattern consistent with the diagnosis of inflammatory pseudotumor. However, besides lymphocytes, plasma cells, macrophages, eosinophils and myofibroblasts a high number of slightly polymorphic, frequently binucleated cells positive for CD21 and CD23 were seen. These cells which were scattered or formed smaller or larger groups and fascicles were considered to represent follicular dendritic reticulum cells (FDRCs) and the lesion a FDRC tumor. Flow cytometric DNA ploidy analysis showed a hyperdiploid cell population inside the tumor like lesion. Besides FDRC tumors of high and of intermediate malignancy the present case may represent a low grade type of moderate proliferation activity. The FDRCs of the lesion and a few smaller spindle cells were EBER positive indicative of the presence of EBV. No EBER positive cells were seen in the uninvolved spleen.

This report presents an experience of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analysis of T-cell receptor g- and bgene (TCR g, TCR b), and immunoglobulin heavy chain (IgH) gene rearrangements in 9 cases of primary systemic anaplastic large cell lymphoma. We showed 2 clonal IgH, 2 TCR g, 1 TCR b rearrangements. The genotype was B/T-cell in 1, T-cell in 1, B-cell in 1 and null cell-type in 6 cases. We used reverse transcriptase PCR (RT-PCR) to detect t(2;5)(p23;q35) and t(1;2)(q25;p23) translocations. T(2;5) translocation was demonstrated in 2 cases, there was no t(1;2) translocation. In most cases the molecular genetic results were found to be in agreement with immunophenotypic data.

In virus associated diseases identification of viruses in cells can contribute to the understanding of the pathogenesis and may also help to establish the diagnosis. In the present communication, the effects of the microwave pretreatment (MWP) and that of the proteinase-K enzymatic predigestion (PKD) on EBER RNA oligonucleotide in situ hybridization (EBER-RNA-ISH) (EBER: Epstein-Barr-Encoded-(Early)-RNA) were studied. The efficacy of two EBV detecting methods, latent membrane protein-1 (LMP-1) immunohistochemistry and EBER-RNA-ISH were also compared. Our results show that microwave pretreatment enhances the intensity of the ISH signals and preserves significantly better the structure of the tissues compared with enzymatic predigestion. EBER-RNA-ISH, mainly in the nasopharyngeal carcinoma cases, showed a more frequent positivity than the immunohistochemical reaction for LMP-1, however in case of the Warthin's tumor only the LMP-1 protein was expressed.