Characterization of de novo diffuse large B-cell lymphoma with a translocation of c-myc and immunoglobulin genes

Primary Burkitt's lymphoma of the thyroid without Epstein-Barr virus infection: A case report and literature review

Primary thyroid lymphomas are rare, and the majority are B-cell lymphoma. Primary Burkitt's lymphoma (BL) of the thyroid is much less common than the other types of lymphoma. The current study presents the case of an eight-year-old male with a mass in the right lobe of the thyroid, which was detected by B-ultrasound. The patient was diagnosed with BL by immunohistochemistry, fluorescence in situ hybridization analysis of MYC (8q24) and immunoglobulin rearrangement assays. Furthermore, subsequent positron emission tomography-computed tomography scans revealed no abnormal metabolites in the left lobe of the thyroid or in other parts of the body following surgery. The patient underwent alternate R-B-NHL-BFM-90-A and R-B-NHL-BFM-90-B treatment for four cycles each following the thyroidectomy. The patient is well and remains free of disease recurrence following almost four years follow-up. The present study discusses this rare case of primary BL of the thyroid and presents a review of the literature. This case report provides evidence that the immediate diagnosis and treatment of primary Burkitt's lymphoma of the thyroid is likely to improve patient outcome.

Over-expression of BACH2 is related to ongoing somatic hypermutation of the immunoglobulin heavy chain gene variable region of de novo diffuse large B-cell lymphoma

The basic region-leucine zipper (bZip) factor BTB, CNC homology 2 (BACH2) is known to have important roles in class switch recombination and somatic hypermutation (SHM) of the immunoglobulin (Ig) gene. In this study, we investigated the relationship between the expression of BACH2 and the status of SHM of the Ig heavy chain gene variable region (IgHV) for SHM in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL). We examined 20 cases of DLBCL, 13 of which were germinal center B-cell (GCB) DLBCL and 7 were non-GCB DLBCL. Seven cases were negative, 6 were positive (cytoplasmic expression) and 7 were strongly positive (both nuclear and cytoplasmic expression) for BACH2. Confirmed mutation (CM) was identified in 8 cases and the CM index (number of confirmed mutations per 10 subclones) was distributed from 0 to 5. A CM index of 7 strongly positive (over-expression) cases with BACH2 were distributed from 0 to 5, and that of 7 negative and 6 positive cases were distributed from 0 to 1. Over-expression of BACH2 was statistically related to CM index (P = 0.008). In conclusion, over-expression of BACH2 is critical for ongoing SHM of IgHV in DLBCL, and our data suggest that BACH2 may play an essential role for SHM of the Ig gene in B-cell lymphoma.

Promising personalized therapeutic options for diffuse large B-cell Lymphoma Subtypes with oncogene addictions

Currently, two major classification systems segregate diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) into subtypes based on gene expression profiles and provide great insights about the oncogenic mechanisms that may be crucial for lymphomagenesis as well as prognostic information regarding response to current therapies. However, these current classification systems primarily look at expression and not dependency and are thus limited to inductive or probabilistic reasoning when evaluating alternative therapeutic options. The development of a deductive classification system that identifies subtypes in which all patients with a given phenotype require the same oncogenic drivers, and would therefore have a similar response to a rational therapy targeting the essential drivers, would significantly advance the treatment of DLBCL. This review highlights the putative drivers identified as well as the work done to identify potentially dependent populations. These studies integrated genomic analysis and functional screens to provide a rationale for targeted therapies within defined populations. Personalizing treatments by identifying patients with oncogenic dependencies via genotyping and specifically targeting the responsible drivers may constitute a novel approach for the treatment of DLBCL.

Immunoglobulin superfamily is conserved but evolved rapidly and is active in the silkworm, Bombyx mori

Immunoglobulin superfamily (IgSF) proteins are known for their abilities to specifically recognize and adhere to cells. In this paper, we predicted the presence of 133 IgSF proteins in the silkworm (Bombyx mori) genome. Comparison with similar proteins in other model organisms (Caenorhabditis elegans, Drosophila melanogaster, Anopheles gambiae, Apis mellifera and Homo sapiens) indicated that IgSF proteins are conserved but have rapidly evolved from worms to human beings. However, these proteins are well conserved amongst insects. Silkworm microarray-based expression data showed tissue expression of 57 IgSF genes and microbe-induced differential expression of 37 genes. Based on the expression data, we can conclude that the silkworm IgSF is active.