Lymphomas are a heterogeneous group of malignancies arising in the lymphoid tissue. Lymphomas often start in the lymphatic system in locations such as the lymph nodes. They may then spread to other locations such as the lungs, liver or bone marrow. 25-40% of lymphomas arise at specific extranodal sites, such as splenic marginal zone B-cell lymphomas that arise in the spleen (Marcus R. and Sweetenham J. W., 2007 ) Most Lymphomas are B cell in origin, with a minority being T- cell. There are two main categories of lymphoma: Hodgkin’s Lymphoma (HL) and Non- Hodgkins Lymphoma (NHL) (Freedman J., 2005). Hodgkin’s lymphoma is a lymphoma composed of Reed-Sternberg cells surrounded by reactive non-neoplastic chronic inflammatory cells (variable numbers of lymphocytes, plasma cells, eosinophils, histocytes and neutrophils) and variable degrees of fibrosis.
Lymphoma accounts for over 3 % of cancer occurring worldwide. 75,000 people in the UK are living with lymphoma and over 13,500 people are diagnosed with lymphoma every year. The most common are B cell cancers diffuse large B cell lymphoma and Follicular lymphoma (FL) (Freedman J., 2005).
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Idiotypic Vaccines for Lymphoma