Hybridization in situ demonstrated expression of EBV-encoded RNA (EBER), the cellular c-fgr protooncogene, and CD23 B-cell activation transcripts in the Wiskott-Aldrich lymphoma whereas EBER and c-fgr but not CD23 were expressed in the Burkitt's lymphoma.
Our data indicate that there is no general correlation between c-fgr mRNA levels and growth rate in BL cells and so argue against a role for the c-fgr gene product in growth regulation in these cells.
We also show that BL cell lines freshly converted with the non-immortalizing HR-I strain of EBV do not accumulate higher levels of c-fgr mRNA, suggesting that EBNA-2 and/or LMP, the genes which are deleted in the HR-I strain, may be involved in the pathway which leads to changes in c-fgr gene expression.