Hodgkin Lymphoma: An Update on its Biology with New Insights into Classification

Abstract

In the past few years, there has been a greater understanding of the spectrum and biology of Hodgkin lymphoma (HL). In standard texts, HL is classified as 2 distinct entities, namely nodular lymphocyte-predominant HL and classical HL (CHL). However, recent evidence suggests that CHL is not a single disease. Although the mixed cellularity and lymphocyte-depleted subtypes might be part of a biologic continuum, the nodular sclerosis subtype has a distinct epidemiology, clinical presentation, and histology. Nodular sclerosis HL might also be related to primary mediastinal B-cell lymphoma and mediastinal gray-zone lymphomas. We present an update on the pathobiology of HL and discuss these biologic and clinical differences in this review.