(LOCALIZATION OF THE KAPPA AND LAMBDA LIGHT CHAINS IN REACTIVE AND NEOPLASTIC LESIONS OF THE MUCOSA ASSOCIATED LYMPHOID TISSUE (MALT

Abstract

This study was performed to report the results regarding the histopathologic and immunohistochemical features of gastric MALT lymphomas. Forty cases were studied, I 0 cases were gastric MALT lymphoma and 30 cases were chronic active gastritis with intense lymphocytic infiltration. Helicobacter pylori organism in gastric mucosa . was detected in 80% of all cases. Kappa and Lambda light-chain11 antibodies were used to express light-chain restriction that occurs only in . cases of gastric MALT lymphoma versus inflammatory conditions. In conclusion, it is very important to sample gastric mucosa in Helicobacter pylori organism positive patients and suspicious lymphoproliferative cases because the traditional histological examination may be insufficient in identifYing small neoplastic lesions but the immunohistochemical method represents an effective tool to detect lesions at the earliest and curable stage.