2015 Volume 55 Issue 3 Pages 127-135
We confirmed the characteristic clinical features of necrotizing lymphadenitis (NEL) in 66 cases (23 male, 43 female) in Japan, which included high fever (38-40°), painful cervical lymphadenopathy (62/66, 93.9%), and leukopenia (under 4,000/mm3) (25/53, 47.2%), without seasonal occurrence, in a clinicopathological, immunohistochemical, electron microscopic serological study. Patient age varied from 3-55 years, and 72.7% (44/66) of patients were younger than 30 years. Histopathology of NEL was characterized by the presence of CD8+ immunoblasts, CD123+ cells (plasmacytoid dendritic cells; PDCs), histiocytes and macrophages phagocytizing CD4+ apoptotic lymphocytes, but no granulocytes or bacteria. The number of PDCs and CD8+ cells in lesions tended to increase with time, and PDCs tended to be larger and irregular in the lesions compared with the non-lesion tissue of the lymph nodes. In addition, PDCs showed no temporal morphological change in the lymph nodes. The number of CD4+ cells in the lymph node lesions sharply decreased from the 2nd to the 4th week, and then tended to increase; however, CD4+ cells gradually decreased with time in non-lesion tissue. PDCs may produce interferon-α (IFN-α), which induces Mx1 expression. Strong Mx1 immunoreactivity is indicative of IFN-α production. IFN-α induces transformation of CD8+ cells into immunoblasts, as well as phagocytosis of apoptotic cells derived from CD4+ cells by macrophages. Thus, PDCs may play an important role with immune cells, including CD8+ and CD4+ cells, in necrotizing lymphadenitis. [J Clin Exp Hematop 55(3) : 127-135, 2015]