Gene encoding the alpha chain of the T-cell receptor is moved immediately downstream of c-myc in a chromosomal 8;14 translocation in a cell line from a human T-cell leukemia.

The SKW-3 cell line, which was established from the malignant cells of a patient with T-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia, is characterized by a translocation involving chromosome 8 (band q24) and chromosome 14 (band q11) [t(8;14)(q24;q11)]. To determine the position of the gene encoding the alpha chain of the T-cell receptor and of the human protooncogene myc (c-myc) in relation to the breakpoint junctions and to evaluate their possible role in the pathogenesis of T-cell neoplasia, we applied the techniques of in situ chromosomal hybridization and Southern blot analysis to SKW-3 cells. Our results indicate that the breakpoint on chromosome 14 at band q11 occurs close to a joining sequence of the gene encoding the alpha chain of the T-cell receptor. Additional rearrangements within the alpha-chain locus appear to split the variable region cluster. As a result of the rearrangements, the constant region of this gene, as well as some variable region segments, are translocated to chromosome 8, to the 3' side of the c-myc-coding exons. The identification of a breakpoint to the 3' side of c-myc suggests that this translocation is analogous to the variant (2;8) and t(8;22) translocations observed in the B-cell malignancies.