Pathology of B-cell lymphomas: diagnosis and biomarker discovery.

The diagnosis of B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphomas has changed significantly over the past few decades as new immunophenotypic markers, molecular subtype classification schemes, and novel biomarkers have emerged. Meanwhile, there has been an increasing emphasis on individualizing treatment approaches in accordance with a biologic heterogeneity that has been uncovered within many of the individual B-cell lymphoma entities. The application of high-throughput genomic sequencing to B-cell lymphomas has yielded large amounts of valuable information. The data encompass discoveries essential to an understanding of pathogenesis, clonal or tumoral evolution, and identification of biomarkers that may be useful for prognostic or therapeutic considerations. The following review discusses several of the more common, primarily tissuebased B-cell lymphomas, with a focus on pathologic classification and certain phenotypic characteristics or genetic lesions that apply to refinement of diagnosis and therapy.