title: Roles of BCL6 in normal and transformed germinal center B cells.
abstract: BCL6 is a transcriptional repressor required in mature B cells during the germinal center (GC) reaction. Multiple mechanisms act coordinately to timely modulate BCL6 expression at transcriptional and post-transcriptional levels. BCL6 prevents premature activation and differentiation of GC B cells and provides an environment tolerant of the DNA breaks associated with immunoglobulin gene remodeling mechanisms involved in the production of high-affinity antibodies of different isotypes. The critical functions exerted by BCL6 during normal B-cell development can be hijacked by the malignant transformation process. Indeed, BCL6 is targeted by genetic aberrations and acts as an oncogene in GC-derived lymphomas. The aberrations affecting BCL6 interfere with the multiple levels of regulation that grant a fine tuning of BCL6 expression and activity in physiologic conditions. This review summarizes the current knowledge on BCL6 function and its role in lymphomagenesis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology and Cell Biology, Institute for Cancer Genetics, the Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center, Columbia University, New York, NY 10032, USA.
authors.forename: Katia
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Basso
authors.forename: Riccardo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Dalla-Favera
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001402:B-Lymphocytes / Q000166:cytology* / Q000473:pathology; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D002471:Cell Transformation, Neoplastic / Q000473:pathology*; D018858:Germinal Center / Q000166:cytology* / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D008228:Lymphoma, Non-Hodgkin / Q000503:physiopathology; D051560:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-6 / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D015533:Transcriptional Activation
chemical_list: D051560:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-6