Abstract
Gastric marginal zone lymphoma (gMZBL) is the most frequent type of extranodal marginal zone lymphoma of mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue (MALT). The histology of gMZBL shows typical small cell morphology, however, there also exists a large cell variant. Additionally, composite lymphomas (ComL) harboring both, the small-cell and large-cell morphology can occur; therefore, ComL is an example of lymphoma progression. However, the WHO currently defines the large cell variant of gMZBL as a “diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) in the presence of accompanying MALT lymphoma”. In this mini review we summarize morphological and immunohistochemical aspects including molecular cytogenetic data as well as RNA expression and methylation data of gMZBL and provide evidence that the large cell variant of gMZBL is a lymphoma distinct from conventional DLBCL.
Keywords
Gastric marginal zone lymphoma, Lymphoma progression, Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma