Differences between Burkitt's lymphomas and mouse plasmacytomas in the immunoglobulin heavy chain/c-myc recombinations that occur in their chromosomal translocations.
Burkitt's lymphomas (BLs) and mouse plasmacytomas (MPs) are characterized by chromosomal translocations juxtaposing the c-myc oncogene to one of the immunoglobulin loci. Here we describe illegitimate recombinations and the DNA sequence at the junction between c-myc and immunoglobulin heavy chain (IgH) regions in these B-cell lineage tumors. In 15 BLs and in 29 MPs, recombination products were amplified by PCR and sequenced. Molecular analysis of the IgH/c-myc junctions revealed the following characteristics: (a) rearrangements in BLs represent nearly reciprocal exchanges between c-myc and IgH switch sequences, whereas in MPs, several hundred bp of c-myc may be duplicated or deleted; (b) short homologies of up to 5 bp between immunoglobulin and c-myc sequences can be found at most junction sites in both tumors; and (c) pentameric sequences typically found in switch regions and V(D)J recognition motifs also occur frequently at the sites of recombination in c-myc.
Müller
J R
JR
Laboratory of Genetics, National Cancer Institute, NIH, Bethesda, Maryland 20892, USA.
Janz
S
S
Potter
M
M
D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D002051:Burkitt Lymphoma / Q000235:genetics*; D004273:DNA, Neoplasm / Q000235:genetics; D017353:Gene Deletion; D005803:Genes, Immunoglobulin; D016259:Genes, myc; D006801:Humans; D051379:Mice; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010954:Plasmacytoma / Q000235:genetics*; D011995:Recombination, Genetic; D012689:Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid; D014178:Translocation, Genetic; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured
D004273:DNA, Neoplasm