Chromosomal abnormalities of 200 Chinese patients with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in Taiwan: with special reference to T-cell lymphoma.
BACKGROUND
The distribution of the histopathological subtypes of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) is different among various geographical areas. However, there are few reports concerning cytogenetic findings of NHL, especially T-cell lymphoma, in Asian people.


METHODS
We analyzed the chromosomal abnormalities of 200 adult patients with NHL in Taiwan and correlated the non-random aberrations with the histological subtypes.


RESULTS
One hundred and thirty-eight patients (69%) had B-cell lymphoma. The incidence of the t(14;18) in total lymphoma was lower in Taiwan (12%) than in the West (20-30%), but its incidence in follicular lymphoma was comparable between the two areas (17 of 28 patients, 61% versus approximately 50-60%). Sixty-two patients (31%) had T-cell lymphoma, including 11 angiocentric T/natural killer (NK)-cell lymphoma and only two angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma (AILD). The recurrent chromosomal abnormalities in T-cell lymphoma comprised 6q deletion (30%), 11q deletion (20%), 17p deletion (16%), -17 (16%), -Y (14%) and + 8 (11%). Angiocentric T/NK-cell lymphoma had a significantly higher frequency of 1q duplication (P=0.001), 6p duplication (P <0.001) and 11q deletion (P=0.011) than other T-cell lymphoma. The incidences of +3 and +5, two common abnormalities in AILD, were quite low in T-cell lymphoma in Taiwan (4% and 2%, respectively), compared with those in the West (16-32% and approximately 15%, respectively). The 11q deletion, not a common aberration in T-cell lymphoma in western countries, occurred quite frequently in Taiwan.


CONCLUSIONS
The chromosomal aberrations of NHL are quite different among various geographical areas, which may reflect the differences in the distribution of the histological subtypes of lymphoma among various areas.
Chen
C-Y
CY
Department of Internal Medicine, National Taiwan University Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan.
Yao
M
M
Tang
J-L
JL
Tsay
W
W
Wang
C-C
CC
Chou
W-C
WC
Su
I-J
IJ
Lee
F-Y
FY
Liu
M-C
MC
Tien
H-F
HF
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001854:Bone Marrow Cells / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D002869:Chromosome Aberrations; D002872:Chromosome Deletion; D020440:Gene Duplication; D006801:Humans; D007621:Karyotyping; D008198:Lymph Nodes / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D016393:Lymphoma, B-Cell / Q000235:genetics; D008228:Lymphoma, Non-Hodgkin / Q000235:genetics*; D016399:Lymphoma, T-Cell / Q000235:genetics; D008875:Middle Aged; D013624:Taiwan