Korean J Hematol.  1999 May;34(2):196-206.

Frequency of bcl-2 mbr/JH Rearrangement and Prognostic Implication of bcl-2, c-myc Protein Expression in Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma

Affiliations
  • 1Department of Internal Medicine, Chonnam University Medical School, Kwangju, Korea.
  • 2Department of Pathology, Chonnam University Medical School, Kwangju, Korea.
  • 3The Research Institute of Clinical Medicine, Chonnam University Hospital, Kwangju, Korea.

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Deregulated bcl-2 appears to prolong cell survival and to cooperative with c-myc in promoting cell proliferation. We investigated whether there is any clinicopathologic correlation between the survival and the frequency of bcl-2/JH rearrangement and bcl-2, c-myc protein expression in non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.
METHODS
We conducted a study for bcl-2 mbr/JH rearrangement with polymerase chain reaction and for bcl-2, c-myc expression with immunohistochemical staining in 46 formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded non-Hodgkin's lymphoma tissues of patients treated with CHOP chemotherapy including 37 specimens of diffuse large cell type.
RESULTS
The bcl-2 mbr/JH rearrangement was positive in 13% (6/46) of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma specimens. For bcl-2, strong positive reaction (3+) and 2+ positive reaction were seen in 16 (35%) and 16 cases (35%), respectively; while 3+ and 2+ reactions were found in 20 (44%) and 16 cases (35%), respectively, for c-myc by immunohistochemistry. Eighty one percent of positive cases for bcl-2 were also positive for c-myc simultaneously. The 6 cases with bcl-2 mbr/JH rearrangement were weakly positive at 3 cases and strong positive at 3 cases for bcl-2 by staining. In cases of diffuse large cell lymphoma, high expression (3+) of bcl-2 & c-myc protein tended to have a shorter 2 year survival, though it was statistically not significant.
CONCLUSION
High expression of bcl-2 and c-myc protein suggest that bcl-2 cooperate with c-myc in tumorigenesis of aggressive non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. The prognostic implication of bcl-2 and c-myc expression in diffuse large cell lymphoma patients needs to be evaluated in a larger, prospective cohort to draw a definitive conclusion.

Keyword

Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma; bcl-2 mbr/JH; c-myc; Immunohistochemistry; Survival

MeSH Terms

Carcinogenesis
Cell Proliferation
Cell Survival
Cohort Studies
Drug Therapy
Humans
Immunohistochemistry
Lymphoma, Large B-Cell, Diffuse
Lymphoma, Non-Hodgkin*
Polymerase Chain Reaction
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