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Lymphoma

Molecular heterogeneity of splenic marginal zone lymphomas: analysis of mutations in the 5′ non-coding region of the bcl-6 gene

Leukemia volume 15, pages 628–634 (2001)Cite this article

Abstract

Splenic marginal zone lymphoma (SMZL) has been recognized as a distinctive type of small B cell lymphoma, and defined on the basis of its morphological, phenotypic, clinical and molecular characteristics. In spite of this, the borders of the entity, the homogeneity of the cases and the presumably cell origin of SMZL remain controversial issues. The frequency of mutation in the 5′ non-coding region of the bcl-6 gene has been used as a marker of germinal center derivation, which may be used to establish the molecular heterogeneity of different non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) types. This roughly parallels the characteristics and frequency of the somatic hypermutations found in the immunoglobulin heavy chain variable region (IgVH) genes. This study analyzed mutations of bcl-6 in the 5′ non-coding region in 22 SMZL cases and, for the purpose of comparison with different B cell subsets, in microdissected germinal centers, mantle zones and marginal zone subpopulations from reactive splenic lymphoid follicles. A majority of the SMZL cases studied, 19/22 (87%), bear unmutated bcl-6 gene, while mutation was only observed in 3/22 (13%) cases. Analysis of normal B cell subpopulations showed bcl-6 hypermutation in 3/10 (30%) germinal center clones, 5/14 (35%) marginal zone clones; and unmutated sequences in all clones derived from mantle cells. The frequency of these mutations in normal spleen confirms previous findings on the hypermutation IgVH process in normal B cell populations. The data presented here support the existence of molecular heterogeneity in this entity, and give additional results in favor of the hypothesis that, in spite of initial morphological observations, a significant proportion of SMZL cases could derive from an unmutated naive precursor, different from the marginal zone, and possibly located in the mantle zone of splenic lymphoid follicles. Thus the marginal zone differentiation of these tumors could be related more with the splenic microenvironment than it is to the histogenetic characteristics of the tumor.

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Acknowledgements

This study was supported by grants (FIS 99/0705) from the Fondo de Investigaciones Sanitarias, Ministerio de Sanidad y Consumo, and 1FD97–0431, from the Comision Interministerial de Ciencia y Tecnologia, Spain. Dr D Capello (Department of Medical Sciences, University of Torino at Novara, Italy) for her assistance in the interpretation of results; Drs T Flores, L Bernardo, M Morente and M Medina from the Pathology Departments at hospitals in Salamanca, Gerona, Guadalajara and Seville (SPAIN), for kindly providing the cases included in this series.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Genetics, ‘Virgen de la Salud’ Hospital, Toledo, Spain

    M-S Mateo, P Algara & P Martínez

  2. Department of Pathology, ‘Virgen de la Salud’ Hospital, Toledo, Spain

    M Mollejo

  3. Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Oncologicas, Programa de Patologia Molecular, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Madrid, Spain

    R Villuendas, M Sanchez-Beato & MA Piris

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Mateo, MS., Mollejo, M., Villuendas, R. et al. Molecular heterogeneity of splenic marginal zone lymphomas: analysis of mutations in the 5′ non-coding region of the bcl-6 gene. Leukemia 15, 628–634 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.leu.2402073

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