ANALYSIS OF THE IMMUNOGLOBULIN HEAVY-CHAIN GENE REARRANGEMENT PROVIDING MOLECULAR EVIDENCE OF 2ND LYMPHOMA IN A PATIENT IN APPARENT RELAPSEAFTER AUTOTRANSPLANTATION

Development of a second lymphoma after autotransplantation is an unusu al event, Its real incidence, however, could be underestimated, since histologic and immunophenotyping techniques are often unable to distin guish it from a relapse. We report a lymphoma patient in apparent rela pse after 42 months of molecular remission achieved by autotransplanta tion, Sequencing analysis of the immunoglobulin heavy-chain genes show ed that the rearrangement of variable, diversity and joining segments had changed between diagnosis and relapse and suggested that a second lymphoma had developed.