Occurrence of ASHM in PIM-1, RhoH/TTF, and c-MYC was a constant finding in follicular lymphoma (FL) (all of 11 cases) but not so frequent in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) (4 (33.3%) of 12 cases) and Marginal zone B-cell lymphoma (MZBCL) (1 (10.0%) of 10 cases).
To further characterize follicular lymphomas without BCL-2 gene rearrangement and expression, we analyzed and compared the mutational status of IGVH genes as well as other genes (C-MYC, PAX-5 and RHOH) frequently involved in the specific type of genomic instability called aberrant somatic hypermutation in 11 cases of BCL-2-negative and 7 cases of BCL-2-positive follicular lymphomas.
Here we explored whether aberrant somatic hypermutation, leading to the acquisition of new mutations in PIM-1, PAX-5, RhoH/TTF and c-MYC genes, is involved in transformation from FL or B-CLL to DLBCL.