title: The Role of c-MYC in B-Cell Lymphomas: Diagnostic and Molecular Aspects.
abstract: c-MYC is one of the most essential transcriptional factors, regulating a diverse array of cellular functions, including proliferation, growth, and apoptosis. Dysregulation ofc-MYCis essential in the pathogenesis of a number of B-cell lymphomas, but is rarely reported in T-cell lymphomas.c-MYCdysregulation induces lymphomagenesis by loss of the tight control ofc-MYCexpression, leading to overexpression of intact c-MYC protein, in contrast to the somatic mutations or fusion proteins seen in many other oncogenes. Dysregulation ofc-MYCin B-cell lymphomas occurs either as a primary event in Burkitt lymphoma, or secondarily in aggressive lymphomas such as diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, plasmablastic lymphoma, mantle cell lymphoma, or double-hit lymphoma. Secondaryc-MYCchanges include gene translocation and gene amplification, occurring against a background of complex karyotype, and most often confer aggressive clinical behavior, as evidenced in the double-hit lymphomas. In low-grade B-cell lymphomas, acquisition ofc-MYCrearrangement usually results in transformation into highly aggressive lymphomas, with some exceptions. In this review, we discuss the role that c-MYC plays in the pathogenesis of B-cell lymphomas, the molecular alterations that lead toc-MYCdysregulation, and their effect on prognosis and diagnosis in specific types of B-cell lymphoma.
authors.affiliation: Department of Hematopathology and Laboratory Medicine, H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute, Tampa, FL 33612, USA. lynh.nguyen@moffitt.org.
authors.forename: Lynh
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Nguyen
authors.affiliation: Cytogenetics Laboratory, Laboratory Corporation of America, Research Triangle Park, NC 27709, USA. papenhp@labcorp.com.
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Papenhausen
authors.affiliation: Department of Hematopathology and Laboratory Medicine, H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute, Tampa, FL 33612, USA. haipeng.shao@moffitt.org.
authors.forename: Haipeng
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Shao
keywords: c-MYC; complex karyotype; diffuse large B-cell lymphoma; double-hit lymphoma; lymphoma; mantle cell lymphoma; plasmablastic lymphoma