Rare expression of BSAP (PAX-5) in mature T-cell lymphomas.
Lineage determination in lymphomas is based on the assessment of lineage-specific markers, such as the B-cell-specific activator protein of the paired box family (BSAP, PAX-5) for the B-cell lineage. BSAP is thought to be expressed exclusively in B cells from the pro-B- to the mature B-cell stage and then silenced in plasma cells. BSAP has oncogenic potential and experimental evidence shows that the T-cell lineage is prone to this effect. Herein, we report on a BSAP-positive peripheral T-cell lymphoma with monoclonal T-cell receptor gamma-gene rearrangement. To assess the relative frequency of BSAP expression in mature T-cell lymphomas, we constructed and examined a tissue microarray consisting of 43 angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphomas and peripheral T-cell lymphomas and detected no additional BSAP-positive cases. To conclude, BSAP can probably contribute to T-cell lymphomagenesis not only in vitro, but also in vivo. It is rarely expressed in peripheral T-cell lymphoma, thus its detection on lymphoid malignancies cannot be considered definitively lineage specific.
Tzankov
Alexandar S
AS
Institute of Pathology and Bone Tumor Reference Center, University Hospital Basel, Basel, Switzerland. atzankov@uhbs.ch
Went
Philip T
PT
Münst
Simone
S
Papadopoulos
Thomas
T
Jundt
Gernot
G
Dirnhofer
Stephan R
SR
D000368:Aged; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000096:biosynthesis; D019070:Cell Lineage; D005260:Female; D015334:Gene Rearrangement, gamma-Chain T-Cell Antigen Receptor; D006801:Humans; D016399:Lymphoma, T-Cell / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D016411:Lymphoma, T-Cell, Peripheral / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D051757:PAX5 Transcription Factor / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D046888:Tissue Array Analysis
D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D051757:PAX5 Transcription Factor; C497281:PAX5 protein, human