Castleman disease human lymph node tissue

Castleman disease (CD) is a rare hematologic disorder involving inflamed lymph nodes and distinct histological features. Unicentric Castleman disease (UCD) and idiopathic multicentric Castleman disease (iMCD) are of particular interest as their etiologies are poorly understood and treatment options are limited. As iMCD patients, and occasionally UCD patients, also present with a cytokine storm, we sought to investigate if the cytokine release from iMCD and UCD subtypes have pathogenic origins as observed in human herpesvirus 8 MCD (HHV-8-MCD). To identify potential active viruses that may be contributing to immune system dysregulation in Castleman Disease tissues we conducted bulk RNA sequencing on FFPE preserved lymph node tissue from patients with various phenotypes including Idiopathic multicentric Castleman disease (n = 9), systemic lupus erythematosus (n =3), diffuse large B cell lymphoma (n =5), and reactive lymph nodes with inconclusive pathology (n = 7).