Large-cell anaplastic lymphoma-specific translocation (t[2;5] [p23;q35]) in Hodgkinʹs disease: indication of a common pathogenesis?

Chromosomal aberrations are characteristic and specific events; the detection of chromosomal abnormalities often provides information on diagnosis and prognosis of disease. Some patients with large-cell anaplastic lymphoma (Ki 1 lymphoma) have the translocation t(2;5) (p23; q35), involving a possible growth-regulating tyrosine kinase. We found this translocation in 11 patients with Hodgkinʹs disease of nodular sclerosis and mixed-cellularity types. This finding has implications for the understanding of the relation between large-cell anaplastic lymphoma and Hodgkinʹs disease, diseases with morphological and immunophenotypical similarities. Study of this translocation may help understanding of the origins of cancer and cancer growth. It also allows a more precise definition of Hodgkinʹs disease and may be used as an indicator for clonality—which has long been sought.