Histopathological features and immunophenotyping of canine transmural gastrointestinal lymphoma using full-thickness biopsy samples

To elucidate the histopathological characteristics and immunophenotypes of canine transmural “mass-forming” gastrointestinal lymphomas and plasmacytomas, 83 surgically resected biopsy samples were examined. All lymphomas and plasmacytomas were located in the small or large intestine except for 1 plasmacytoma which was in the stomach. According to the World Health Organization (WHO) classification, B-cell neoplasms (17 cases) included lymphoplasmacytic lymphoma (6/17), plasmacytoma (5/17), follicular lymphoma (3/17), and diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (3/17). Based on nuclear sizes, T-cell neoplasms (66 cases) were broadly divided into large cell lymphoma (LCL; 48/66) and small cell lymphoma (SCL; 18/66). According to the WHO classification, T-cell neoplasms included anaplastic large T-cell lymphoma (ALCL; 10/66), angiotropic T-cell lymphoma (3/66), mixed inflammatory type peripheral T-cell lymphoma (mixed inflammatory type PTCL; 33/66), and PTCL-not otherwise specified (PTCL-NOS; 20/66). Mixed inflammatory type PTCLs were further divided into histiocyte- (27/33) and eosinophil- (6/33) dominant types. Immunohistochemically, lymphoplasmacytic lymphomas were positive for Pax5 (6/6) and IgM (5/6), while plasmacytomas were positive for IgG (5/6) and negative for Pax5. LCLs were immunopositive for granzyme B in 31/48 cases (65%) and CD8 in 9/48 cases (19%), while SCLs were immunopositive for granzyme B in 3/18 cases (17%) and CD8 in 3/18 cases (17%). Furthermore, 8/10 cases (80%) of ALCL and 19/27 cases (70%) of histiocyte-dominant PTCL were immunopositive for granzyme B, whereas 6/20 cases (30%) of PTCL-NOS, 1/6 cases (17%) of eosinophil-dominant PTCL, and no cases of angiotropic T-cell lymphomas were immunopositive for granzyme B. The present study describes the immunophenotypes in different histological types of transmural gastrointestinal lymphomas in the dog.