The human BCL6 gene on chromosome 3 band q27, which encodes a transcriptional repressor, is implicated in the pathogenesis of human lymphomas, especially the diffuse large B-cell type. We previously identified the human PDCD2 (programmed cell death-2) gene as a target of BCL6 repression. PDCD2 encodes a protein that is expressed in many human tissues, including lymphocytes, and is known to interact with corepressor complexes. We now show that BCL6 can bind directly to the PDCD2 promoter, repressing its transcription. Knockdown of endogenous BCL6 in a human B cell lymphoma line by introduction of small interfering RNA duplexes increases PDCD2 protein expression. Furthermore, there is an inverse relationship between the expression levels of the BCL6 and PDCD2 proteins in the lymphoid tissues of mice overexpressing human BCL6 (high BCL6 levels, minimal PDCD2) and controls (minimal BCL6, high PDCD2) as well as in tissues examined from some human B and T cell lymphomas. These data confirm PDCD2 as a target of BCL6 and support the concept that repression of PDCD2 by BCL6 is likely important in the pathogenesis of certain human lymphomas.human lymphomas ͉ target of BCL6 B CL6, a gene on chromosome 3, band q27, encodes a nuclear zinc finger protein that is a transcriptional repressor (1-3). This protein is expressed at high levels in human lymph node germinal center B cells, most cortical thymocytes, and some human B and T cell lymphomas (4). The BCL6 gene was identified (5-7) through its involvement in chromosomal translocations that occur in Ϸ40% of diffuse large-cell B cell lymphomas. In other lymphomas, mutations occur 5Ј to the BCL6 coding region (8). The BCL6 protein binds DNA in a sequencespecific fashion through its C-terminal zinc finger region (9, 10). It conveys transcriptional repression through an N-terminal POZ domain and a second domain that is more centrally located (1-3, 11) and interacts with a number of corepressors (12)(13)(14). It is thought that the BCL6-repressive effects are mediated through multiprotein repression complexes with histone deacetylase activity. A peptide that specifically binds BCL6 and blocks corepressor recruitment leads to apoptosis and cell-cycle arrest of BCL6-positive lymphoma cells (15). Mice overexpressing human (16) or murine (17) BCL6 develop lymphomas.We previously generated a dominant-negative cell system (18) with the use of a construct expressing the BCL6 zinc fingers, which compete with the binding of endogenous BCL6 in BJAB cells (an Epstein-Barr virus-negative Burkitt lymphoma cell line expressing high levels of BCL6) (19). Because BCL6 is a repressor, competition for binding of the full-length endogenous BCL6 protein by the exogenously transfected zinc fingers results in up-regulation of BCL6 target genes. We used subtractive hybridization techniques to amplify differentially expressed sequences. These studies led to the identification of the PDCD2 (programmed cell death-2) gene as a target of BCL6. Immunohistochemistry performed on human tonsil with antibodies sp...