Thymic lymphomas in the mouse

Although they are major tools for immunological and oncological research, basic information about T-cell lymphomas is still incomplete. Are we dealing with a single disease or with a spectrum of related diseases or, to phrase the same question in other terms, could all T-cell tumours result from the transformation of only one cell type, with differentiation proceeding in any direction after transformation? Alternatively, are T cells at various stages of differentiation all susceptible to transformation? Which cells are the targets for neoplastic transformation and what are the normal counterparts of the tumour cells? These questions are important if murine lymphoma is to be taken as a model for human disease(1). They are also relevant to immunologists who choose to study thymic lymphopoiesis and T-cell differentiation using tumours as models(2-10). In this review, R. Hooghe and J Boniver discuss the tumour cell, the elusive target cell for neoplastic transformation and the results of recent studies in molecular biology.