Overexpression of a human Rel protein missing a C-terminal transactivation domain can also enhance the transformed state of the human B-lymphoma cell line BJAB.
We found an increase of genomic complexity with lymphoma progression from small to large cytology, and identified gains of prominent (proto) oncogenes such as REL, BCL11A, ETS1, PTPN1, PTEN and KRAS which were found exclusively in the large cell variants.
Although transcript levels were generally low and nuclear REL staining was weak in the lymphoma cell lines, these nevertheless exhibited high NF-kappaB activation.