Follicle center lymphoma and Warthin tumor involving the same anatomic site. Report of two cases and review of the literature

Abstract

We report 2 cases of follicle center non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) and Warthin tumor involving the same site. Case 1 is a 68-year-old woman with Warthin tumor and grade 1 follicular NHL involving a periparotid lymph node. She had localized NHL and was treated with radiation therapy; dissemination developed 54 months later. Case 2 is a 55-year-old man with a 17-year history of a parotid mass with gradual enlargement during the last 5 years. Surgical excision revealed Warthin tumor and grade 1 follicular NHL involving the right parotid gland and surrounding lymph nodes. Immunohistochemical studies supported the diagnosis of NHL in both cases; the neoplasms were positive for CD20 and BCL-2 and negative for CD3. Polymerase chain reaction analysis done on paraffinembedded tissue of case 1 revealed monoclonal immunoglobulin heavy chain gene rearrangement and bcl-2/JH fusion DNA sequences diagnostic of the t(14;18)(q32;q21). The small size of the Warthin tumor in case 1, clearly arising in lymph node, supports the hypothesis that Warthin tumor arises from heterotopic salivary gland ducts within lymph nodes. The localized NHL in both patients suggests that the NHL initially arose in the lymph node involved by Warthin tumor, and, thus, the Warthin tumor may have provided a source of long-term antigenic stimulation from which a monoclonal B-cell population subsequently arose.