Our results suggest a role for p15 and p16 gene methylation during lymphomagenesis and a possible association between p15 and p16 inactivation and aggressive transformation in B-cell and T-cell lymphomas.
There is controversy concerning the prognostic impact of p15 and p16 aberrations with some studies describing a significant correlation between inactivation of these genes and poor prognosis, while most others did not detect any prognostic relevance, at least in pediatric ALL; there may be a worse prognosis for adults with B or T cell lymphomas.
Homozygous deletions of either the p16 gene or both the p15 and p16 genes were observed in one diffuse large B-cell lymphoma cell line and two uncultured lymphomas consisting of one large B-cell and one mixed T-cell lymphoma.