Follicular immunoblastic lymphoma: neoplastic counterpart of the intrafollicular immunoblast?

B-immunoblasts, the precursors of plasma cells, occur predominantly in the interfollicular regions of lymphoid tissue, but may also occur in small numbers in germinal centres (intrafollicular immunoblasts). We report an unusual case of de novo follicular lymphoma composed of immunoblasts with an appreciable amount of plasmacytoid cytoplasm. We postulate that follicular immunoblastic lymphoma probably represents the neoplastic counterpart of the intrafollicular immunoblast.