IntroductionB-cell commitment critically depends on the transcription factor Pax5 (BSAP), which is required for B-cell development beyond an early pro-B-cell stage in the bone marrow. 1 Pax5 Ϫ/Ϫ pro-B cells are uncommitted lymphoid progenitors with a broad developmental potential and are able to differentiate into mature B cells only once their multilineage potential is suppressed by restoration of Pax5 expression. 2 Conversely, the loss of Pax5 expression by conditional gene inactivation converts committed pro-B cells with a restricted B-cell potential into lymphoid progenitors with a broad developmental potential. 3 Moreover, ectopic Pax5 expression in hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) and their progeny strongly skews the developmental options of lymphoid progenitors by promoting B-cell development at the expense of T lymphopoiesis. 4 Consistent with its B-lineage commitment function, Pax5 is exclusively expressed within the hematopoietic system from the pro-B to the mature B-cell stage and is essential for maintaining the identity and function of B lymphocytes. 5 At the molecular level, Pax5 fulfills a dual role in gene regulation. It activates a multitude of B-cellspecific genes, some of which code for essential components of (pre)BCR signaling. 6 At the same time, Pax5 represses lineageinappropriate genes with important functions in receptor signaling, cell adhesion, migration, and transcriptional regulation in other hematopoietic lineages. 2,7 Hence, Pax5 controls the B-cell phenotype by shutting down inappropriate signaling systems and by simultaneously facilitating B-lymphoid signal transduction from the (pre)BCR.Tumors of hematopoietic origin are frequently associated with specific chromosomal translocations, which result in the activation of proto-oncogenes controlling differentiation, proliferation, or cell survival. In B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphomas (B-NHLs), these proto-oncogenes are often deregulated by translocation adjacent to regulatory elements of the immunoglobulin heavy-chain (IgH) locus on human chromosome 14q32. 8 The PAX5 gene on chromosome 9p13 is involved in the recurrent translocation t(9;14)(p13;q32), which juxtaposes the intact coding sequences of PAX5 in opposite orientation next to the constant gene region of the IgH locus. [9][10][11] The molecular analysis of 5 breakpoints revealed that the t(9;14) translocation arises in germinal center B cells as a result of misguided IgH class switch recombination or somatic hypermutation. In 3 cases, the breakpoints were found in the switch S or S␣ region of the IgH locus and in exon 1B of PAX5, which resulted in replacement of the 2 alternative PAX5 promoters by antisense promoters present in the IgH switch region. [10][11][12] The breakpoints of 2 additional translocations occurred 1.8 kb (KIS-1 lymphoma) or 2 kb upstream of the distal exon 1A of PAX5, which brought the 2 PAX5 promoters under the control of the juxtaposed intronic E enhancer or 3Ј locus control region of the IgH locus. 9,10,13 The regulatory t(9;14)(p13;q32) translocation may pa...