bcl-10

This gene is on chromosome 1. Wild-type bcl-10 is a proapoptotic tumour suppressor gene: truncation of the gene leads to its becoming oncogenic3.

The gene product may be detected in paraffin sections using a commercially available antibody, but this antibody is difficult to use1.

Immunohistochemical expression

In normal marginal zone cells, bcl-10 is localised in the cytoplasm2.

There is overexpression of bcl-10 in MALT lymphomas, which appears to occur by several different mechanisms, suggesting that overexpression of bcl-10 is integral to the development of a MALT lymphoma3:

t(1;14)(p22;q32), juxtaposing the bcl-10 gene to the immunoglobulin heavy chain.
t(11;18)(q21;q21) results in a chimeric transcript between the API2 and MALT1 genes and is present in 30% to 50% of MALT lymphomas; this translocation correlates strongly with nuclear expression of bcl-10.

Diagnostic utility

References

1 Professro Isaacson, verbal communication, 7.6.02.

2 Li, C., H. Inagaki, et al. (2003). "Primary cutaneous marginal zone B-cell lymphoma: a molecular and clinicopathologic study of 24 asian cases." Am J Surg Pathol 27(8): 1061-9.

3 Liu H, Ye H, Dogan A, et al. T(11;18)(q21;q21) is associated with advanced mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue lymphoma that expresses nuclear BCL10. Blood 2001; 98:1182-7 FULL TEXT

This page last revised 18.11.2006.