Prognostic value of phenotyping by Ber-H2, Leu-M1, EMA in Hodgkin's disease.

The purpose of this report is to assess whether phenotyping by three monoclonal antibodies routinely used in paraffin sections (Ber-H2-Leu-M1-EMA) and shown to be the most useful for diagnosis may be a predictive factor for recurrences. Among 563 patients diagnosed as having Hodgkin's disease (24% of whom had recurrence), we selected 153 patients with and without recurrence, with matching clinical stage. For all of these cases, histologic material was tested by immunostainings with satisfactory control samples. No phenotype was specific for Hodgkin's disease, although the phenotype Ber-H2-Leu-M1-EMA was predominant. No phenotype was found to be a predictive factor for recurrences, and none was unchanged during the clinical course, except when recurrence occurred as non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.