title: Genetic evidence for a clonal link between low and high-grade components in gastric MALT B-cell lymphoma.
abstract: High-grade MALT lymphomas often contain low-grade tumour components; both cell populations have been shown to express the same immunoglobulin light chain previously. However, the clonal link between the low and high-grade components has not been established at the genetic level. To investigate this link, we have examined low- and high-grade components micro-dissected from tissue sections of four high-grade gastric MALT lymphomas. PCR and sequence analyses were performed to identify clone-specific rearranged immunoglobulin heavy chain gene sequences. In each of these cases, the PCR products from the two components were identical in size by electrophoresis. Direct sequencing revealed common clone-specific immunoglobulin heavy chain gene rearrangements in both lesions of each case, providing genetic evidence for a clonal link. These results support the proposal that high-grade MALT lymphomas generally evolve from low-grade clones.
authors.affiliation: Department of Histopathology, University College London Medical School, UK.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Peng
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Du
authors.forename: T C
authors.initials: TC
authors.lastname: Diss
authors.forename: P G
authors.initials: PG
authors.lastname: Isaacson
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Pan
mesh_terms: D001483:Base Sequence; D019070:Cell Lineage; D002999:Clone Cells; D006801:Humans; D007143:Immunoglobulin Heavy Chains / Q000235:genetics; D018442:Lymphoma, B-Cell, Marginal Zone / Q000235:genetics*; D008228:Lymphoma, Non-Hodgkin / Q000235:genetics*; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012689:Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid; D013274:Stomach Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D007143:Immunoglobulin Heavy Chains