title: FISH is better than BIOMED-2 PCR to detect IgH/BCL2 translocation in follicular lymphoma at diagnosis using paraffin-embedded tissue sections.
abstract: The most common genetic aberration in follicular lymphoma (FL) is the t(14;18)(q32;q21) translocation that juxtaposes the antiapoptotic BCL2 gene with the promoter of the immunoglobulin heavy chain (IgH) gene. Our aim was to test the usefulness of two different techniques, fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) and PCR to detect t(14;18) in FL at diagnosis in paraffin-embedded tissue sections. A total of 51 patients diagnosed of FL were analyzed. FISH was performed with dual color dual fusion commercial probes (VYSIS) and in PCR experiments, the BIOMED-2 primers covering MBR, mcr and 3'MBR regions were applied. FISH showed positivity for the IgH/BCL2 translocation in 96% of patients and PCR in 59% of patients. FISH was able to detect variant translocations involving light chain Ig, or showing variant patterns such as deletions of the IgH portion involved in translocation. In 4% of cases, the IgH/BCL2 translocation was not detected by any of the two techniques tested. Our results show that FISH represents the best technique to detect t(14;18) at diagnosis.
authors.affiliation: Servei de Patologia (Laboratori de Citogenetica i Biologia Molecular), Hospital del Mar, IMAS, URNHE, PRBB, Escola de Citologia Hematològica Soledad Woessner-IMAS, Barcelona, Spain. bespinet@imas.imim.es
authors.forename: Blanca
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Espinet
authors.forename: Beatriz
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Bellosillo
authors.forename: Carme
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Melero
authors.forename: Ma Carmen
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Vela
authors.forename: Carmen
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Pedro
authors.forename: Marta
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Salido
authors.forename: Lara
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Pijuan
authors.forename: Lourdes
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Florensa
authors.forename: Carles
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Besses
authors.forename: Sergi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Serrano
authors.forename: Francesc
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Solé
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D019254:Genes, bcl-2; D006801:Humans; D007143:Immunoglobulin Heavy Chains / Q000235:genetics*; D017404:In Situ Hybridization, Fluorescence / Q000379:methods*; D008224:Lymphoma, Follicular / Q000235:genetics*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016612:Paraffin Embedding; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods*; D014178:Translocation, Genetic
chemical_list: D007143:Immunoglobulin Heavy Chains