Expression of T-cell-receptor beta chain in Reed-Sternberg cells.

Frozen and paraffin sections of biopsy specimens from 65 patients with Hodgkin's disease were immunostained with the monoclonal antibody beta F1, which recognises a formol-resistant framework epitope on the T-cell-receptor beta chain (TCR-beta)--a structure that defines T cells. In 14 patients a subpopulation of Hodgkin and Reed-Sternberg cells showed beta F1 positivity, usually on the surface membrane, in both frozen and paraffin sections. TCR-beta-positive Hodgkin and Reed-Sternberg cells occurred in all types of Hodgkin's disease except the lymphocyte-predominant subtype.