The t(14;19)(q32.3;q13.1) is a recurring translocation found in the neoplastic cells of some patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) or other B‐lymphocytic neoplasms. We previously cloned the translocation breakpoint junctions present in the leukemic cells from three such patients and identified a gene, BCL3, whose transcription is increased as a result of the translocation. In the present paper, we describe three additional patients with the t(14;19), one with lymphoma and two with CLL, and report the cloning and sequencing of the breakpoint junction in one of these patients as well as in a previously reported patient. We and others have found that the breakpoints on chromosome 14, with one exception, fall within the switch region upstream of the immunoglobulin heavy chain Cα1 or Cα2 sequences. Several of the breaks within chromosome 19 fall immediately upstream of the BCL3 gene, but several others are more than 16 kb 5′ of the gene. Most patients with CLL and the t(14;19) also show trisomy 12. Genes Chromosom. Cancer 20:64–72, 1997. © 1997 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.

Chromosome 14 breakpoints in malignant human lymphocytes cluster on the long (q) arm near bands q11 and q32. An inversion of chromosome 14 due to breaks in q11.2 and q32.3 has now been found in a newly established childhood T-cell lymphoma cell line and confirmed in T-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia. A translocation was also found between chromosomes 10 and 14 with a breakpoint at 14q11.2 in another T-cell lymphoma cell line. It is proposed that a proximal region on chromosome 14 in or near sub-band q11.2 is related to T-cell function. Rearrangements in this region may affect the growth of T lymphocytes and be involved in the development of T-cell malignancies.

No abstract

No abstract