DNA was extracted from archival CPs of B-cell NHL cases with previous fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) assays for MYC rearrangement and/or IGH/BCL-2 translocation.
Follicular lymphoma grade 3 was correlated with nodal disease and negative or lower intensity of Bcl-2 expression, but not with age, stage, or IGH/BCL2 status.
This indicates that primers for bcl-2 gene must include icr primer, whenever the bcl-2 gene is being evaluated for B-cell NHL in this part of the world and this might reduce the variability of frequency of bcl-2 gene rearrangement within and between different regions.
The aim of this study was to analyze the bcl-2/IgH rearrangement in FL lymphoma patients in Serbia, by PCR technique, correlate molecular findings with clinical characteristics and outcome and assess the prognostic significance of these rearrangements.
Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma and follicular lymphoma grade 3 with >75% follicular growth pattern patients have very similar characteristics and their prognosis is more influenced by protein expression of B-cell differentiation stage genes than by tumor cells growth pattern, BCL2 and BCL6 abnormalities, and International Prognostic Index.
Some evidence suggests that IL-10 might be associated with the progression of T-cell NHLs and that IL-10 may be involved in a rescue effect, protecting T cells from apoptotic cell death associated with upregulated bcl-2 expression.
High molecular response rate and clinical correlation in patients with follicular lymphoma treated with cyclophosphamide-vincristine-prednisone plus interferon alpha 2b.
We conclude that neither the absence of the t(14;18) nor the lack of bcl2 expression explain the good response of a subset of patients with FLCL to curative therapy.
The first member of this gene family to be identified was BCL-2, by virtue of its involvement in t(14;18) chromosomal translocations commonly found in B-cell non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL).
Among lymphomas, IgH monoclonality was detected in 7 (77%) of 9 NHLs and BCL2 rearrangement in 3 (17.6%) of 17 NHLs, all of which were follicular centroblastic-centrocytic (FCBCC).
Furthermore, in another series of 11 patients and a NHL cell line, we demonstrated t(14;18) and t(11;14) in interphase and metaphase cells with a combination of BCL2 (or PRAD1) with IgH gene probes.
We conclude that bcl-2 gene deregulation, but not the precise moment at which this occurs during the pre-B-cell stage, influences the development of follicular NHL.