Tumors of the splenic marginal zone can present In spleen or blood. The maturational status of the neoplastic B cells from each site appears heterogeneous, with either unmutated or mutated variable-region heavy chain (V-H) genes. To determine an influence of tissue location, we assessed matched blood and splenic tumor cells from 4 patients and found them Identical. However, one patient with unmutated V-H genes in blood and spleen developed a clonally related diffuse large B-cell lymphoma in the chest wall. Strikingly, this subclone had undergone significant somatic mutation, with clear intracional heterogeneity. To our knowledge, this Is the first case of a B-cell tumor showing initiation of somatic mutation in vivo. The finding emphasizes that the tissue micro-environment can influence tumor cell behavior and possibly affect disease progression. Importantly, because several replacement mutations were located within or close to the complementarity-determining regions (CDRs), it raises the question of a role for antigen in driving tumor growth. (C) 2002 by The American Society of Hematology.
作者
我是这篇论文的作者
点击您的名字以认领此论文并将其添加到您的个人资料中。
推荐
暂无数据