A quantitative study of alpha-naphthyl acetate esterase-positive cells in Hodgkin's disease.

Abstract

The numbers of .alpha.-naphthyl acetate esterase (ANAE)-positive [human] cells (other than T cells) were counted in 32 specimens of Hodgkin''s disease and 2 specimens of histiocytic lymphoma. The different Rye subtypes of Hodgkin''s disease contain varying numbers of enzyme-positive cells, ranging from 1.8-16% in the lymphocyte-predominant form to 39.8-47% in lymphocyte-depleted Hodgkin''s disease. The percentage of enzyme-positive cells in the mixed cellularity variety was from only 6.5-14.6%. In the 2 specimens of apparently genuine histiocytic lymphoma, the enzyme-positive cells constituted 95.2 and 97.5%, respectively of all cells. The numbers of macrophages and macrophage-like cells in true histiocytic lymphoma are much greater than in Hodgkin''s disease.