Histopathology of the spleen in non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

The human spleen has several different lymphoid compartments, which may be preferentially involved by non-Hodgkin's lymphomas. Low grade B-cell lymphomas tend to involve the compartments of the spleen where their normal physiological counterparts are found. High grade B-cell lymphomas grow more destructively without respecting lymphoid compartments. T-cell lymphomas involve mainly the T-cell areas, but may also involve follicles and the red pulp. Since non-Hodgkin's lymphomas can be regarded as clonal proliferations of lymphocytes frozen at a stage in differentiation, one possible conclusion is that low grade lymphomas are governed by normal homing mechanisms. High grade lymphomas may have lost their homing properties.