Is. Lossos et R. Levy, Higher-grade transformation of follicle center lymphoma is associated withsomatic mutation of the 5 ' noncoding regulatory region of the BCL-6 gene, BLOOD, 96(2), 2000, pp. 635-639
Follicle center lymphoma (FCL) is an indolent low-grade B-cell non-Hodgkin'
s lymphoma (NHL) that frequently transforms to aggressive diffuse large B-c
ell lymphoma (DLBCL), Histologic transformation of FCL is commonly associat
ed with accumulation of secondary genetic alterations, The BCL-6 gene is al
tered by chromosomal rearrangements and mutations clustering in its 5' nonc
oding regulatory region In up to 70% of primary DLBCL, but in a significant
ly smaller subset of FCL, Previous studies have shown that both chromosomal
rearrangements and mutations could deregulate BCL-6 expression, To evaluat
e the association between progressive accumulation of BCL-6 regulatory regi
on mutations and the histologic transformation of FCL, we analyzed by exten
sive cloning and sequencing paired biopsy specimens obtained at the time of
FCL diagnosis and transformation (6 patients) or FCL relapse (3 patients).
In an additional patient, biopsy specimens obtained at the time of diagnos
is, FCL relapse, and subsequent transformation to DLBCL were evaluated. The
presence of identical mutations in the paired diagnosis and posttransforma
tion DLBCL specimens confirmed the common clonal origin of both the pretran
sformation and the posttransformation lymphomas, No new mutations in the 5'
noncoding regulatory region of the BCL-6 gene were detected In any of the
specimens evaluated at the time of FCL relapse, In contrast, 5 of the 7 tra
nsformed specimens contained new mutations not found in the paired original
biopsy specimens obtained at the time of FCL diagnosis or relapse, The num
ber of these new mutations ranged from 1 to 6 per specimen, Some of the new
mutations tended to cluster in certain areas of the 5' noncoding regulator
y region of the BCL-6 gene, Our results show that transformation of FCL to
DLBCL is associated with accumulation of new mutations in the 5' noncoding
regulatory region of the BCL-6 gene, that by deregulation of the BCL-6 gene
expression may play a role in lymphoma transformation, (C) 2000 by The Ame
rican Society of Hematology.