Aberrant rearrangement of the kappa light-chain locus involving the heavy-chain locus and chromosome 15 in a mouse plasmacytoma.

The creation of a functional antibody gene requires the precise recombination of gene segments initially separated on the chromosome. Frequently errors occur in the process, resulting in the formation of a non-functional gene. The non-functional genes can be generated by incomplete rearrangements, frameshifts, or the use of pseudo V or J joining segments. It is likely that these aberrant rearrangements arise by the same mechanism as is used in generating functional genes, a process which we have suggested may involve unequal sister chromatid exchange. Aberrant rearrangements of immunoglobulin genes occur in normal lymphocytes and play a major part in allelic exclusion. However, it has recently been suggested that aberrant rearrangements involving immunoglobulin and non-immunoglobulin genes may be involved in tumorigenesis. This suggestion has been stimulated by the frequent occurrence of translocations involving chromosomes known to carry immunoglobulin genes in B-cell malignancies. The rearrangement of non-immunoglobulin DNA to the heavy-chain locus has recently been reported. Some aberrant rearrangements of the kappa locus appear to be due to rearrangements to sites that do not include the conventional sequence for V gene segment joining. Here we describe an aberrant kappa rearrangement that has led to the joining of DNA from chromosomes 15, 6 and 12, and so appears to be the result of chromosomal translocations or transpositions. As 15/6 or 15/12 translocations have frequently been found in mouse plasmacytomas (as have analogous translocations in human lymphocyte tumours) this aberrant kappa rearrangement may be unique to the plasmacytoma from which it was isolated.