🍿Popcorn cells / LP cells
✅ Found in nodular Hodgkin lymphoma with lymphocyte predominance (it is recommended to use the term nodular lymphocyte-predominant B-cell lymphoma).
✅ This non-classical type of Hodgkin lymphoma occurs in approximately 5% of cases.
✅ In this type, classical Berezovsky-Reed-Sternberg cells are usually very difficult to find. This tumor contains lymphohistiocytic cells with a polyploid nucleus (or polylobed, there are discrepancies in medical literature) resembling popcorn, hence their name (LP cells). Such cells are found in lymph nodes.
✅ Unlike Berezovsky-Reed-Sternberg cells found in classical Hodgkin lymphoma, these lymphohistiocytic cells express CD20 and BCL6 (typical germinal center B-cell markers) and do not express CD15 (CD15 is present on almost all Berezovsky-Reed-Sternberg cells) and CD30 (expressed by activated T and B cells).
✅ Cytology: large cells, polyploid (or polylobed, there is an overlapping of nuclear lobes, which resembles popcorn), with finely dispersed chromatin, a thin nuclear membrane, small or enlarged nucleoli often located near the nuclear membrane, and moderately expressed clear cytoplasm.
👉Sources:
- Faramarz Naeim MD, Ryan T. Phan PhD/Nodular Lymphocyte Predominant Hodgkin Lymphoma. 2018.
- Vinay Kumar, Abul K. Abbas, Nelson Fausto, John C. Aster/Robbins and Cotran Pathologic Basis of Disease. 2016.
- Hanan Ali, Kikkeri Naresh, Nayef M. Aqel /Primary nodular lymphocyte predominant Hodgkin lymphoma of the palate: A rare incidence which was also associated with progressive transformation of germinal centres of cervical lymph node. 2013.
- Andrea P. Subhawong MD, Syed Z. Ali MD, Armanda D. Tatsas/Nodular lymphocyte-predominant Hodgkin lymphoma. 2013.
