Bcl-2 Gene and Prognosis of B-cell Lymphoma

Both the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and Southern blot analysis were used to detect bcl-2 gene rearrangement in B-cell lymphoma. Recent molecular studies have shown that the translocation of karyotypic abnormalities t(14;18) results in the juxtaposition of the candidate proto-oncogene bcl-2 on chromosome 18 with the immunoglobulin heavy-chain locus on chromosome 14. We detected the bcl-2 rearrangement in three of six follicular lymphomas (50%), two of five follicular and diffuse lymphomas (40%), one of 13 diffuse medium-sized cell lymphomas (7.7%) and two of 33 diffuse large cell lymphomas (6.0%) through Southern blot analysis. With PCR, the rearrangement was demonstrated in five of eight follicular (63%), three of five follicular and diffuse (60%), seven of 36 diffuse large cell lymphomas (19%) and two of 13 diffuse medium-sized lymphomas (15%). Diffuse large cell lymphomas with bcl-2 rearrangement detected by PCR have a good prognosis as do cases of follicular lymphoma The bcl-2 gene is closely related to follicular lymphoma as described in previous reports and has general prognostic importance in diffuse large cell lymphoma of B cell type.