Studies of lectin binding to normal and neoplastic lymphoid tissues. I. Normal nodes and Hodgkin's disease

Abstract

Lectins are proteins which have the ability to interact specifically with carbohydrate residues of glycoproteins and other glycoconjugates. The staining patterns of 10 fluorescein conjugated lectins (F-Con A, F-LCA, F-RCA, F-WGA, F-PHA, F-PWM, F-LTA, F-SBA, F-PNA, F-DB) and a protease inhibitor (F-LA) have been studied in histological sections of 11 normal or reactive lymph nodes and 6 nodes and one skin biopsy involved by Hodgkin's disease. On the basis of the patterns of lectin binding, and current knowledge of their saccharide specificities, we found that within germinal centres there is an orderly carbohydrate rich extracellular matrix which contains a higher concentration of GlcNAc and terminal Gal residues than the surface membranes of component cells. This suggests active secretion rather than simple membrane shedding, and it is possible that this pericellular domain plays a part in the regulation of the proliferative response, or controls migration of lymphocytes in and out of the germinal centre. Lectin binding in Reed-Sternberg cells suggests that the huge nucleoli contain glycoconjugates of diverse structure, which may be linked with their failure to undergo cytokinesis. Images Fig. 1 Fig. 2 Fig. 3 Fig. 4 Fig. 5

Characteristics of Sternberg-Reed, and related cells in Hodgkin's disease: An immunohistological study

“…Unlike a recent study (Bramwell et al, 1982) which reported predominantly nuclear binding of PNL, the distribution of staining, in this study, was limited entirely to the cell membrane and/or cytoplasm. In reactive lymph nodes PNL is bound in germinal centres by B lymphoid and reticular cells bearing the terminal carbohydrate residue, galactose-N-acetyl glucosamine (Rose et al, 1981).…”

Disseminated Malignant Histiocytosis in a Golden Retriever: Clinicopathologic, Ultrastructural, and Immunohistochemical Findings

“…20 The utility oflectins (SBA, PNA, and ConA) as probes for identifying mononuclear phagocytes and their malignant derivatives has been investigated previously. 4,13,32 In addition to these lectins, binding with WGA was demonstrated in the Golden Retriever. Detection of lectin receptors in malignant analogs of histiocytes appears to be independent of the degree of differentiation of tumor cells; this independence may assist in the identification of tumors with an intermediate degree of differentiation where markers such as lysozyme may be absent.…”

Studies of lectin binding to normal and neoplastic lymph nodes. II. Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma

“…Lectin 8taining procedure.-The lectins used and details of the technique are described in the previous paper (Bramwell et al, 1982).…”

“…Lymphoid tis8ues.-Lymph nodes were obtained from 22 patients who underwent biopsy for diagnostic or staging purposes and processed as previously described (Bramwell et al, 1982).…”

“…An alternative approach to exploring cell surface properties is the use of lectins which also display high specificity in their interactions with surface molecules, but bind to oligosaccharide sequences rather than the peptide moiety of surface glycoproteins, and may therefore give information complementary to surface marker studies. Alterations in the microenvironment of lymph nodes may be as important to the neoplastic process as changes in the surface chemistry of lymphoma cells, and it is possible to explore cell-matrix interactions by the use of lectins as histochemical stains (Bramwell et at., 1982). This technique also gives information about the distribution of glycoconjugates in subcellular structures such as the nuclear membrane, nucleolus and cytoplasmic organelles.…”