We report the in-vivo fusion of two Hodgkin
lymphomas with golden hamster cheek pouch cells, resulting in serially-transplanted (over 5-6 years)
GW-532 and GW-584 heterosynkaryon
tumor cells displaying both human and hamster
DNA (by FISH),
lymphoma-like morphology, aggressive
metastasis, and retention of 7 human genes (CD74, CXCR4, CD19, CD20, CD71, CD79b, and VIM) out of 24 tested by PCR. The prevalence of B-cell restricted genes (CD19, CD20, and CD79b) suggests that this uniform population may be the clonal initiating (malignant) cells of
Hodgkin lymphoma, despite their not showing translation to their respective
proteins by immunohistochemical analysis. This is believed to be the first report of in-vivo cell-cell fusion of human
lymphoma and rodent host cells, and may be a method to disclose genes regulating both organoid and
metastasis signatures, suggesting that the horizontal transfer of
tumor DNA to adjacent stromal cells may be implicated in
tumor heterogeneity and progression. The B-cell gene signature of the hybrid xenografts suggests that
Hodgkin lymphoma, or its initiating cells, is a B-cell
malignancy.