Frequent altered distribution of peripheral B-lymphocyte subsets in pediatric and adolescent patients with classical Hodgkin lymphoma.

Peripheral lymphopenia is a well-known negative prognostic marker in classical Hodgkin lymphoma (cHL). We characterized the peripheral B-cell compartment in a prospective cohort of 83 pediatric cHL patients. We observed significantly low total B-cell counts (<100 cells/µl) in 31 of 83 patients (37%). More specifically, there was a smaller peripheral IgDCD27 naïve B-cell pool among B-cell lymphopenic patients than for non-B-cell lymphopenic patients ( < 0.01). The B-cell count was lower in patients without Epstein Barr Virus EBV) expression than among those with EBV expression ( = 0.03). Peripheral B-cell lymphopenia was associated with the presence of poor prognostic features, such as advanced lymphoma stage ( < 0.01) and the presence of B symptoms ( = 0.04). Of interest, B-cell lymphopenia resolved in all six studied patients in long-term remission. Our findings support that cHL tumor-associated factors interfere with the distribution of peripheral B-cell subsets.