t(11;14)-positive mantle cell lymphomas exhibit complex karyotypes and share similarities with B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia

Until now, few data on additional chromosomal aberrations in t(11;14)-posit ive mantle cell lymphomas (MCLs) have been published. We analyzed 39 t(11;1 4)-positive MCLs by either comparative genomic hybridization (CGH; n = 8), fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) with a set of DNA probes detectin g the most frequent aberrations in B-cell neoplasms (n = 12), or both techn iques (n = 19), The t( 11;14) was present in all cases. In 37 of 39 cases, chromosomal imbalances were found. In 27 cases, complex karyotypes, i.e., g reater than or equal to 3 aberrations, were identified. The most frequent a berrations were losses of 13q 14-21 or 13q32-34 (27 cases), 9p21 (16 cases) , and 11q22-23 (12 cases) and gains of 3q26-29 (19 cases), 8q22-24 (11 case s), and 18q21-22 (9 cases). In 26% of cases (7 of 27) analyzed by CGH, a to tal of 10 high-level DNA amplifications were identified. Although in compar ison with B-cell chronic lymphopcytic leukemia (B-CLL) MCL is characterized by a much higher complexity of chromosomal aberrations, there are striking similarities: 13q 14 deletions were identified in more than 50% of both MC L and B-CLL cases. In contrast, in our CGH database containing 293 B-cell l ymphomas, this aberration was found in only 11% of other nodal lymphomas. E ven more strikingly, 11q deletions, which are present in 20%-30 % of MCL an d B-CLL, were found very rarely in other nodal B-cell lymphomas (CGH: 1 of 208 cases; FISH: 1 of 69 cases). These data show that MCL is characterized by specific secondary aberrations and that there may be similarities in the pathogenesis of MCL and B-CLL. (C) 2000 Wiley-Liss, Inc.