Involvement of the BCL3 gene in two patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia.
The t(14;19)(q32;q13) is a recurring translocation found in some patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), and the t(14;19) juxtaposes the BCL3 gene on chromosome 19 with the immunoglobulin heavy chain gene (IGH) locus on chromosome 14. Genomic DNAs from 49 patients with chronic B-cell leukemia and the related lymphomas were examined by Southern blot hybridization using 2 separate probes, named p alpha 1.4P and p alpha .5B, from the BCL3 gene locus. None of the 18 patients with leukemic manifestations of non-Hodgkin's lymphomas had detectable BCL3 rearrangements. Of 31 patients with CLL, 2 had the BCL3 rearrangements. A comigration study using the C alpha and C epsilon constant gene probe from IGH indicated that the t(14;19) translocation occurred in these 2 patients, and they were diagnosed with CLL/prolymphocytic (PL) according to the French-American-British (FAB) classification. Probes for the IGH locus revealed that leukemia cells of the 2 patients each were clonal, indicating that both small lymphocytes and prolymphocytoid cells found in the peripheral blood of one patient had the t(14;19), as well as a major population of the small lymphocytes in the peripheral blood of a second patient. It thus appears that tumor cells carrying the t(14;19) constitute a distinct disease entity in a group of chronic B-cell leukemia, that has a converting potential to more aggressive forms.
First Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Kyoto University, Japan.
K
K
Yabumoto
H
H
Ohno
S
S
Doi
S
S
Edamura
Y
Y
Arita
T
T
Akasaka
J
J
Matsumoto
N
N
Kadowaki
S
S
Fukuhara
M
M
Okuma
D000368:Aged; D000081242:B-Cell Lymphoma 3 Protein; D002883:Chromosomes, Human, Pair 14; D002888:Chromosomes, Human, Pair 19; D005260:Female; D015321:Gene Rearrangement; D006801:Humans; D015451:Leukemia, Lymphocytic, Chronic, B-Cell / Q000235:genetics*; D008297:Male; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D011519:Proto-Oncogenes; D014157:Transcription Factors
D000081242:B-Cell Lymphoma 3 Protein; C000631344:BCL3 protein, human; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins; D014157:Transcription Factors