Mutation of the p53 Gene Is Not a Typical Feature of Hodgkin and Reed-Sternberg Cells in Hodgkin’s Disease

Point mutations of the p53 tumor suppressor gene are a frequent finding in human carcinomas and are thought to be an important oncogenic event. In non-Hodgkin lymphomas, p53 mutations occur in a minor fraction of cases. However, conclusive data are still lacking for Hodgkin’s disease (HD) where the analysis meets technical problems. The neoplastic tumor cell clone in HD is represented by the large Hodgkin and Reed-Sternberg (HRS) cells, which account for only a minority of all cells in the tumor tissue (often