Hodgkin-reed-sternberg cell

The Hodgkin- Reed- Sternberg cell (HRS cell) was first described by the Austrian pathologist Carl Steinberg (1872 - 1935) and the American pediatrician Dorothy Reed (1874 - 1964) (Hircin 2024).

At the beginning of the 20th century, the discovery of Sternberg- Reed cells made it possible to distinguish non-Hodgkin's lymphomas from Hodgkin's lymphomas for the first time (Kasper 2015).

Hodgkin- Reed- Sternberg cells are malignant degenerated B- lymphocytes or giant cells formed by the fusion of several Hodgkin cells (Hircin 2024), which can occur as part of Hodgkin's disease (Herold 2020).

At an early stage of the disease, Hodgkin- Reed- Sternberg cells are found exclusively in localized lymph nodes. Only at an advanced stage can the cells also be found outside the lymph nodes, e.g. in the liver or bone marrow (Herold 2020).

In Hodgkin's disease, HRS cells make up approx. 1 - up to a maximum of 5 % of all cells (Stewart 2023).

The morphological correlate of the malignant cell population in Hodgkin's disease is formed by the small number of HRS cells and the predominantly mononuclear Hodgkin's cells (Baum 2019).

HRS cells are typically multinucleated (Herold 2020), with reticular nuclear chromatin, distinct nucleoli and a basophilic cytoplasmic border (Baum 2019). They are approx. 15 - 45 mcg in size and carry the antigens CD 30 and CD 15 (Hircin 2024).

HRS cells are presumably postmitotic, which is in actual contradiction to the nature of malignant cells, as they normally proliferate unchecked (Girndt 2023).

1. Baum, H. (2019). Reed-Sternberg cell. In: Gressner, AM, Arndt, T. (Eds.) Dictionary of medical laboratory diagnostics. Springer Reference Medicine. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-48986-4_2637
2. Girndt M, Michl P (2023). Innere Medizin hoch 2. Elsevier Urban und Fischer Verlag Germany 201
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4. Hircin, E, van den Hövel N, Unterhofer M, Antwerpes F, Fink B, Ostendorf N, von Westfalen Graf G, Barth J (2024) Sternberg- Reed- Cell. DocCheck Flexikon doi: https://flexikon.doccheck.com/en/Sternberg-Reed-Cell#:~:text=The%20Sternberg%2DReed%2DCell%20is%20derived%20from%20Hodgkin%2DCells%20.
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