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Splenic marginal zone lymphomas and lymphoplasmacytic lymphomas originate from B-cell compartments with two different antigen-exposure histories

Leukemia volume 22, pages 1621–1624 (2008)Cite this article

Since the beginning of the nineties, lymphoplasmacytic lymphoma (LPL) entity has been repeatedly challenged against marginal zone lymphomas, mainly splenic marginal zone lymphoma (SMZL). This is mainly due to difficulties in differential diagnosis related to overlapping morphological features. Various authors raise the question of the genuine existence of LPL, considering that plasma cell differentiation is a morphological aspect of marginal zone lymphomas. Moreover, some authors consider that secretion of an IgM monoclonal component at high levels, so-called Waldenström macroglobulinaemia (WM), is just a clinical/biological syndrome.1 Sequence analysis of immunoglobulin variable regions could be of interest in understanding the relationships between these two entities. For example, 1/3 of SMZL cases exhibit unmutated immunoglobulin variable heavy-chain (IgVH) genes, with a heterogeneous usage of VH segments.2 In contrast, IgVH somatic mutations are frequent with a predominance of VH3 usage in LPL patients.3 But, it is worthnoting that these results are not fully conclusive because they have been obtained on heterogeneous biological materials and in different separated series.

To clarify the relationship between these two entities, we analysed IgVH gene and somatic mutation pattern on homogeneous material consisting of infiltrated bone marrow trephine biopsies. Patients were retrospectively enrolled according to institutional regulations and after approval from the scientific committees of the tumour banks of the University Hospitals of Bordeaux. SMZL (n=11) and LPL (n=14) cases with bone marrow infiltration were retrospectively retrieved from our files.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Cancéropôle Grand-Sud-Ouest, the Institut National contre le Cancer (INCa) contrat ACI-2004–2006 and ACI 2007–2008, Ligue contre le Cancer Comité du Limousin and Ligue Nationale contre le Cancer, Conseil Régional du Limousin. We thank the tumour bank of Hôpital Haut Leveque, Pessac, for providing biological samples.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pathology and Molecular Biology, EA 2406 CHU and University of Bordeaux2, Bordeaux, France

    M Parrens, J P Merlio & A de Mascarel

  2. Laboratory of Immunology and Haematology, CHU Dupuytren, Limoges and Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, UMR CNRS 6101, Faculté de Médecine de Limoges, Université de Limoges, Limoges, France

    N Gachard, A Marfak, E Troadec, M Cogné & J Feuillard

  3. Department of Pathology, CHU Dupuytren, Limoges and Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, UMR CNRS 6101, Faculté de Médecine de Limoges, Université de Limoges, Limoges, France

    B Petit & F Labrousse

  4. Service des maladies du sang, CHU Bordeaux, Bordeaux, France

    K Bouabdhalla & N Milpied

  5. Department of Pathology, Hôpital Purpan, and INSERM-U563, CPTP, groupe lymphomagenèse et génétique moléculaire des lymphomes, Toulouse, France

    C Laurent

  6. Department of Pathology, Institut Bergonié, Bordeaux, France

    I Soubeyran

  7. Department of Pathology, Hôpital Gui de Chauliac, Montpellier, France

    V Coste

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  1. M Parrens
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  15. J Feuillard
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to J Feuillard.

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Supplementary Information accompanies the paper on the Leukemia website (http://www.nature.com/leu)

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Parrens, M., Gachard, N., Petit, B. et al. Splenic marginal zone lymphomas and lymphoplasmacytic lymphomas originate from B-cell compartments with two different antigen-exposure histories. Leukemia 22, 1621–1624 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/leu.2008.24

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