Human B cell lymphomas: in vitro and in vivo studies on growth factors and cell growth.

The B cell non-Hodgkin's lymphomas (NHL-B) are a common, but heterogeneous group of human lymphoid neoplasms, consisting of monoclonal populations of neoplastic B lymphocytes demonstrating non-random chromosomal abnormalities, often associated with proto-oncogene translocations. Clinically and pathologically, these lymphomas are classified as low, intermediate, or high grade, according to the clinical aggressiveness of the NHL-B subtype. The clinical behavior can also be correlated with biological function regarding proliferative capabilities of the tumor cells. Our studies have shown that the low grade B cell lymphomas have low constitutive proliferative capacity in vitro and do not respond to cytokine growth factors (CGF), while the high grade NHL-B respond to the B cell growth factor (BCGF) family of CGFs. The high grade NHL-B also secrete BCGFs both in vitro and in vivo, as autocrine growth factors that may provide a target for new therapeutic approaches to therapy.