The serine protease granzyme M is preferentially expressed in NK-cell, gamma delta T-cell, and intestinal T-cell lymphomas: evidence of origin from lymphocytes involved in innate immunity.

Granzyme M (GM) is a novel serine protease whose expression is highly restricted to natural killer (NK) cells, CD3(+)CD56(+) T cells, and gamma delta T cells. Using a GM-specific monoclonal antibody, we analyzed the expression of GM in 214 mature T-cell and NK-cell lymphomas. GM was preferentially expressed in nasal NK/T-cell lymphomas (100%), gamma delta T-cell lymphomas (100%), and intestinal T-cell lymphomas (85%). In contrast, GM expression was present at low prevalence in mycosis fungoides/Sézary syndrome (3%), anaplastic large-cell lymphoma (6%), panniculitis-like T-cell lymphoma (11%), and angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma (0%) cases. Peripheral T-cell lymphomas of unspecified subtype showed an intermediate frequency (37%) of GM expression, consistent with their heterogeneous origin. We conclude that GM expression is a distinctive feature of the nasal NK/T-cell, gamma delta T-cell, and intestinal T-cell lymphomas, and suggest that these tumors develop from lymphocytes involved in innate immunity.