Clonally related splenic marginal zone lymphoma and Hodgkin lymphoma with unmutated V gene rearrangements and a 15-yr time gap between diagnoses.

Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) can rarely occur during the course of B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma (B-NHL), where both the HL and NHL tumours have been reported to be clonally related in most of the few combination lymphomas so far investigated. We here investigated a case that developed HL 15 yr after being diagnosed with an indolent B-cell lymphoma, classified as a splenic marginal zone lymphoma (SMZL). Analysis of rearranged immunoglobulin genes in the SMZL clone and in single Hodgkin Reed-Sternberg cells revealed presence of identical V gene rearrangements, thus demonstrating a clonal relationship. In contrast to previously described B-NHL/HL combinations, in this case both types of tumour cells carried unmutated V gene rearrangements. We conclude that the HL evolved from an unmutated tumour precursor, either the SMZL clone itself or a common earlier precursor. Copyright Blackwell Munksgaard 2004.