[Clonal evolution of early lymphoproliferations]

The identification and molecular characterisation of premalignant precursor lesions of lymphomas, such as monoclonal gammopathy of unknown significance (MGUS) and the so-called in situ lymphoproliferations, has made significant progress in the recent years. The in situ follicular neoplasia (ISFN), the best-characterised entity, is by definition not identifiable by morphology and represents a t(14;18)+ precursor lesion of follicular lymphoma with characteristic immunophenotype, low potential for progression, and already identifiable secondary genetic alterations. The use of high-throughput genetic techniques on microdissected tissues has generated novel insights into clonal evolution and biological progression of early lesions and documented that an isolated genetic analysis is insufficient to understand the complexity of proliferations.