bcl-2 gene rearrangement analysis of Japanese follicular lymphomas by polymerase chain reaction in formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissue specimens.

The prevalence of chromosomal translocation t(14;18) was examined in 41 cases of follicular lymphoma covering all histopathological subtypes, using the polymerase chain reaction and hybridization method with non-radioactive oligonucleotide probes. DNAs were extracted from unfixed fresh-frozen and/or formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded biopsy specimens. The t(14;18) chromosomal translocation, resulting in bcl-2-JH (immunoglobulin heavy chain gene joining segment) fusion gene, was detected in 7 (36.8%) of 19 follicular small cleaved cell lymphomas and 6 (54.5%) of 11 follicular mixed, small cleaved cell and large cell lymphomas. Meanwhile, 11 cases of follicular large cell lymphoma revealed no bcl-2-JH fusion gene. There was a statistically significant difference in the frequency of bcl-2-JH rearrangement between follicular, small cleaved cell and large cell lymphoma (two-sided Fisher exact test, P = 0.049). The difference of bcl-2 rearrangement frequency between follicular, mixed and large cell lymphoma was also statistically significant (P = 0.012).