For the first time, Weill Cornell Medicine researchers have demonstrated that Hodgkin lymphoma cancer cells from patient samples are immune cells stuck in an “identity crisis.” Normally, a B cell matures into a plasma cell that produces antibodies to fight infection, but in this case, the cells are trapped partway through the transition. They switch off key B cell features but never fully mature into functional plasma cells, instead surviving as malignant Hodgkin lymphoma cells, also called Reed-Sternberg cells.
This article was originally published on MedicalXpress.com
