title: Bcl-B expression in human epithelial and nonepithelial malignancies.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Apoptosis plays an important role in neoplastic processes. Bcl-B is an antiapoptotic Bcl-2 family member, which is known to change its phenotype upon binding to Nur77/TR3. The expression pattern of this protein in human malignancies has not been reported.
  
  
  METHODS
  We investigated Bcl-B expression in normal human tissues and several types of human epithelial and nonepithelial malignancy by immunohistochemistry, correlating results with tumor stage, histologic grade, and patient survival.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Bcl-B protein was strongly expressed in all normal plasma cells but found in only 18% of multiple myelomas (n = 133). Bcl-B immunostaining was also present in normal germinal center centroblasts and centrocytes and in approximately half of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (n = 48) specimens, whereas follicular lymphomas (n = 57) did not contain Bcl-B. In breast (n = 119), prostate (n = 66), gastric (n = 180), and colorectal (n = 106) adenocarcinomas, as well as in non-small cell lung cancers (n = 82), tumor-specific overexpression of Bcl-B was observed. Bcl-B expression was associated with variables of poor prognosis, such as high tumor grade in breast cancer (P = 0.009), microsatellite stability (P = 0.0002), and left-sided anatomic location (P = 0.02) of colorectal cancers, as well as with greater incidence of death from prostate cancer (P = 0.005) and shorter survival of patients with small cell lung cancer (P = 0.009). Conversely, although overexpressed in many gastric cancers, Bcl-B tended to correlate with better outcome (P = 0.01) and more differentiated tumor histology (P < 0.0001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Tumor-specific alterations in Bcl-B expression may define subsets of nonepithelial and epithelial neoplasms with distinct clinical behaviors.
authors.affiliation: Burnham Institute for Medical Research, La Jolla, California 92037, USA.
authors.forename: Maryla
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authors.lastname: Krajewska
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authors.forename: Xianshu
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authors.lastname: Luciano
authors.forename: Cheryl H
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authors.forename: Hoguen
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authors.forename: Eunah
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authors.lastname: Shin
authors.forename: Susan
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authors.lastname: Kennedy
authors.forename: Allen H
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authors.lastname: Olson
authors.forename: Andrzej
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authors.lastname: Jassem
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authors.lastname: Meinhold-Heerlein
authors.forename: Michael J
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authors.lastname: Duffy
authors.forename: Aaron D
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authors.lastname: Schimmer
authors.forename: Ming
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authors.lastname: Tsao
authors.forename: Ewan
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authors.lastname: Brown
authors.forename: Anne
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authors.lastname: Sawyers
authors.forename: Michael
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authors.lastname: Andreeff
authors.forename: Dan
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Mercola
authors.forename: Stan
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authors.lastname: Krajewski
authors.forename: John C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Reed
mesh_terms: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000032:analysis; D005260:Female; D015870:Gene Expression; D006801:Humans; D015151:Immunoblotting; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D008297:Male; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000401:mortality; D011379:Prognosis; D019253:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2 / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D046888:Tissue Array Analysis; D014162:Transfection
chemical_list: C117144:BCL2-like 10 protein; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D019253:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2