Follicular lymphoma causes

Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]; Associate Editor(s)-in-Chief: Sowminya Arikapudi, M.B,B.S. [2]

Overview

Follicular lymphoma may be caused by a translocation between chromosome 14 and 18 that results in the overexpression of the BCL-2 gene.

Causes

A translocation between chromosome 14 and 18 results in the overexpression of the BCL-2 gene.^[1]
As the bcl-2 protein is normally involved in preventing apoptosis, cells with overexpression of this protein are basically immortal.
The BCL-2 gene is normally found on chromosome 18, and the translocation moves the gene near to the site of the immunoglobulin heavy chain enhancer element on chromosome 14.
Translocations of BCL6 at 3q27 may also be involved.^[2]

References

↑ Bosga-Bouwer AG, van Imhoff GW, Boonstra R; et al. (February 2003). “Follicular lymphoma grade 3B includes 3 cytogenetically defined subgroups with primary t(14;18), 3q27, or other translocations: t(14;18) and 3q27 are mutually exclusive”. Blood. 101 (3): 1149–54. doi:10.1182/blood.V101.3.1149. PMID 12529293.
↑ Bosga-Bouwer AG, Haralambieva E, Booman M; et al. (November 2005). “BCL6 alternative translocation breakpoint cluster region associated with follicular lymphoma grade 3B”. Genes Chromosomes Cancer. 44 (3): 301–4. doi:10.1002/gcc.20246. PMID 16075463.

Overview