Nodular sclerosing Hodgkin's disease showing positive reaction for anti-IL 6/BSF2 antibody.
A 53-year-old man presented with bilateral cervical lymph node swelling and low fever. Swollen lymph node was biopsied, and diagnosed as nodular sclerosing Hodgkin's disease (HD). By combined radio- and chemotherapy, he went into complete remission. After 3 years, fever of 38-39.2 degrees C and lymph node swelling appeared in the para-aortic region and later became systemic. A biopsy was diagnosed as syncytial variant of HD with aid of immunohistochemistry on frozen sections. Large atypical mono- or binucleated cells reacted with anti-interleukin 6 (IL-6) antibody. The patient's disease progressed with fever, and he died 66 months after the onset of disease. A previous biochemical study showed that IL-6 displayed a real relation to the generation of fever. Therefore it is suggested that fever in this patient is related to IL-6.