Bijl J J, van Oostveen J W, Walboomers J M, Horstman A, van den Brule A J, Willemze R, Meijer C J
Department of Pathology, Vrije Universiteit Hospital, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Blood. 1997 Nov 15;90(10):4116-25.
Most of the 39 members of the homeobox (HOX) gene family are believed to control blood cell development. HOXC4 and HOXC6 gene expression levels increase with differentiation of lymphoid cells. In contrast, HOXC5 is not expressed in the lymphoid lineage, but was found in lymphoid cell lines, representing the neoplastic equivalents of various differentiation stages of T and B lymphocytes. In the present study, we investigated the HOXC4, HOXC5, and HOXC6 gene expression pattern in 89 non-Hodgkin's lymphomas (NHLs) of different histologic subtypes and originating from different sites. Using RNA in situ hybridization and semiquantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction, we found expression of HOXC4 in 83 of 88 and HOXC6 in 77 of 88 NHLs and leukemias investigated. In contrast, HOXC5 expression was found in only 26 of 87 NHLs and appeared to be preferentially expressed by two specific subsets of lymphomas, ie, primary cutaneous anaplastic T-cell lymphomas (9 of 9) and extranodal marginal zone B-cell lymphomas (maltomas; 7 of 9). These results indicate that, in contrast to HOXC4 and HOXC6, HOXC5 shows a type- and site-restricted expression pattern in both T- and B-cell NHLs.
同源框（HOX）基因家族的39个成员中的大多数被认为控制血细胞发育。HOXC4和HOXC6基因的表达水平随着淋巴细胞的分化而增加。相比之下，HOXC5在淋巴谱系中不表达，但在淋巴样细胞系中被发现，这些细胞系代表T和B淋巴细胞不同分化阶段的肿瘤等效物。在本研究中，我们调查了89例不同组织学亚型、来自不同部位的非霍奇金淋巴瘤（NHL）中HOXC4、HOXC5和HOXC6基因的表达模式。使用RNA原位杂交和半定量逆转录聚合酶链反应，我们在所研究的88例NHL和白血病中发现83例有HOXC4表达，77例有HOXC6表达。相比之下，在87例NHL中仅26例发现有HOXC5表达，且似乎优先在两个特定的淋巴瘤亚群中表达，即原发性皮肤间变性T细胞淋巴瘤（9例中的9例）和结外边缘区B细胞淋巴瘤（黏膜相关淋巴组织淋巴瘤；9例中的7例）。这些结果表明，与HOXC4和HOXC6不同，HOXC5在T细胞和B细胞NHL中均呈现类型和部位受限的表达模式。
