Classical Hodgkin lymphoma (cHL) is one of the most prevalent lymphomas with a unique cell composition compared to other lymphoma entities. Rare, malignant Hodgkin and Reed-Sternberg (HRS) cells embedded with an extensive but ineffective immune infiltration were previously characterized by a large number of genetic and epigenetic alterations. Recently, microRNA profiling studies highlighted the importance of small non-coding RNA in cHL. This review summarizes available literature data and provides a detailed comparison of four studies where cHL cell lines and microdissected HRS cells were used. Several microRNAs were found to be consistently up- (let-7-f, mir-9, mir-21, mir-23a, mir-27a, mir-155, and mir-196a) or downregulated (mir-138 and mir-150) in cHL. These deregulated microRNAs are involved in the processes crucial for cHL pathogenesis, such as impaired B cell development (mir-9, mir-150, and mir-155), NFκB hyperactivation (mir-155 and mir-196a), and immune evasion (mir-138). Therefore, the deregulation of microRNA expression can be considered a complementary mechanism to genetic alterations promoting lymphomagenesis. Moreover, the expression of let-7f, mir-9 and mir-27a is specific for cHL and can serve as a biomarker to distinguish this lymphoma from other B cell lymphomas. However, additional in-depth and high throughput analysis of microRNA expression in HRS cells is necessary to decipher the complete picture of microRNA in cHL.
Keywords: Epigenetics; HRS; cHL; microRNA.