Cytogenetic approaches to the clarification of pathogenesis in lymphoid malignancies: clinicopathologic characterization of 14q+ marker-positive non-T-cell malignancies.

The clinicopathologic features of 53 patients with various types of non-T-cell malignancies were compared with the karyotypic findings. Although all chromosomes underwent numerical and structural rearrangements, a 14q+ marker chromosome (14q32 translocation), which was found in 31 patients, was the single most common abnormality. In terms of survival, no significant difference was noted between the 14q+ positive and negative patients. Donor chromosomes of a 14q32 translocation, which were identified in 27 patients, were quite variable. However, certain chromosomes were predisposed to act as donor chromosomes in the 14q32 translocation. An 8;14 translocation [t(8;14) (q24;q32)] was found in six patients with diffuse non-Burkitt's lymphoma and in four patients with Burkitt's lymphoma-leukemia; in all these patients a stem line or the subline with a t(8;14) had partial trisomy for 1q. An 11;14 translocation [t(11;14) (q13;q32)] was observed in one patient each with diffuse or follicular lymphoma and in two with myeloma; three of the four patients had also structural rearrangements of chromosome 1 in the same cells. A 14;18 translocation [t(14;18) (q32;q21)] was found in six patients with follicular lymphoma and in one with diffuse lymphoma; however, no common involvement of other chromosomes was detected among clones of these abnormal cells with a t(14;18). The median survival was 8 months for patients with a t(8;14) and 39 months for patients with a t(11;14). The difference between the two survival curves was of borderline significance [p = 0.06]. In contrast, patients with a t(14;18) survived significantly longer than those with a t(8;14) [p less than 0.001] or those with a t(11;14) [p = 0.03]. These findings revealed that in non-T-cell malignancies, the clinicopathologic features of the patients with a 14q+ marker depend upon the precise 14q32 translocation and the subsequent karyotypic evolution, although the translocation was not always correlated with a particular type of lymphoid malignancy.