Tissue and plasma lysozyme in Hodgkin's disease.

Lysozyme positivity in lymph nodes from 33 patients with Hodgkin's disease was examined with an immunoperoxidase technique. Positive reactive histiocytes were found in 18 cases; in 7 cases lysozyme was found also in mononuclear Hodgkin cells and in 3 cases in both reactive histiocytes, mononuclear Hodgkin cells and Reed-Sternberg cells. There was no clear-cut correlation between cellular lysozyme positivity and such feature as histological type, clinical stage and plasma lysozyme. The findings support the theory that the malignant cell in Hodgkin's disease is derived from a lysozyme producing macrophage. The finding that lysozyme positivity was an inconstant feature may reflect both varying functional status of the macrophages and varying differentiation of Hodgkin cells. Increased plasma lysozyme in Hodgkin's disease may stem from both reactive histiocytes, mononuclear Hodgkin cells and Reed-Sternberg cells, but the major part is probably contributed by reactive histiocytes.