Analysis of transcripts specific for B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphomas in patients infected with the human immunodeficiency virus type 1

Subtraction hybridization was used to obtain several cDNA clones which corr espond to human genes displaying enhanced expression upon lymphomogenesis i n patients infected with HIV-1. Analysis of cDNA specific for a centroblast non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) revealed enhanced transcription of the lambda i mmunoglobulin light chain gene, the interferon-inducible gene, the gene for mitochondrial NADH dehydrogenase 4, the set oncogene, and several unidenti fied genes. Several similar clones were detected in a library obtained from another HIV-1 patient with immunoblast lymphoma. Nucleotide sequence analy sis showed that cDNA sequences homologous to set contain the set 3' noncodi ng region fused with the 3' sequence of the gene for the constant region of lambda 1 immunoglobulin light chain (lambda 1Ig). The fused sequence was d etected in genomic DNA of centroblast but not immunoblast lymphoma cells. A new chromosome translocation t(9;22)(q34;q11) was assumed to occur upon ly mphomogenesis in some HIV-1 patients.