Transcriptionally active DNA region that rearranges frequently in murine lymphoid tumors

A DNA region not associated with conventional immunoglobulin gene rearrangement is rearranged in many lymphoid tumors. This region, designated here as lymphoid rearranging (LyR) DNA, was cloned from plasmacytoma J558 in which it had recombined 5' to a constant (C) region of the alpha heavy (H) chain gene, C alpha, within a switch (S) region, S alpha, involved in the switching of CH genes. Sequence determination established that LyR DNA had recombined within a S alpha recombination unit. LyR DNA does not originate from the H chain locus, and discordance between LyR DNA and CH copy number in certain lines suggests that LyR DNA probably derives from another chromosome. LyR DNA rearrangement is a characteristic of tumors of mature B cells; it was detected in 24 of 28 plasmacytomas and B-cell lymphomas, usually as LyR-S alpha, but not in 11 Abelson retrovirus-induced lymphomas of B-cell precursors nor detectably in normal B cells. In contrast, rearrangement was observed in only 3 of 18 T-cell lymphomas, and none of seven nonlymphoid lines. Most tumor lines (49 of 52), whether lymphoid or not, contained a low level of polyadenylylated LyR transcript(s), but several new RNA species with differences in their 5' regions appeared in B-cell lines in which LyR DNA was rearranged, suggesting that rearrangement may activate a new promoter or mode of splicing. The results suggest that the LyR-S alpha rearrangement represents a translocation to chromosome 12 that alters expression of LyR-encoded genes; hence, it may have participated in lymphoid tumor oncogenesis.