1. ¹Department of Pathology, Okayama University Graduate School of Medicine and Dentistry, Okayama, Japan
2. ²Third Department of Internal Medicine, Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine, Kyoto, Japan
3. ³Department of Pathology, Fukushima University of Medicine, Fukushima, Japan
4. ⁴Department of Clinical Laboratory Medicine, Wakayama University School of Medicine, Wakayama, Japan
5. ⁵First Department of Pathology, Fukuoka University School of Medicine, Fukuoka, Japan
6. ⁶Department of Pathology, Kawasaki University Medical School, Kurashiki, Japan
7. ⁷Department of Pathology, Nagoya City University Medical School, Nagoya, Japan
8. ⁸Department of Ophthalmology, National Okayama Medical Center, Okayama, Japan

Correspondence: Tadaatsu Akagi, M.D., Ph.D., Department of Pathology, Okayama University Graduate School of Medicine and Dentistry, 2-5-1 Shikata-cyo, Okayama 700-8558, Japan. fax: 81-22-86-235-7156; e-mail: akagi@cc.okayama-u.ac.jp

Accepted 18 February 2003.

Abstract

The chromosomal translocation t(11;18) is a unique chromosomal aberration associated with mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue lymphoma. API2 and MALT1 genes have been identified around this translocation. We attempted to find chromosomal abnormalities focusing mainly on the t(11;18) translocation in formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissues of ocular adnexal lymphoproliferative disorders using multiplex reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction and/or two-color interphase fluorescence in situ hybridization. By these methods, the t(11;18) translocation was detected in 1 of 8 patients with reactive lymphoid hyperplasia (13%), 3 of 23 with mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue lymphoma (13%), and 2 of 14 with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma with/without mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue lymphoma (14%). Moreover, we performed fluorescence in situ hybridization analysis to detect any numerical aberration of chromosomes 3, 7, 12, and 18 on some specimens nonselectively. No numerical chromosomal abnormalities were detected in 3 cases of reactive lymphoid hyperplasia, whereas three of four cases of mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue lymphoma and all four cases of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma with/without mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue lymphoma components exhibited one or more abnormalities. These findings indicate a possibility that at least in the ocular adnexa, some diffuse large B-cell lymphomas are derived from mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue lymphomas.