BCL8 Is a Novel, Evolutionarily Conserved Human Gene Family Encoding Proteins with Presumptive Protein Kinase A Anchoring Function

BCL8 is a novel human gene family initially identified through cloning of BCL8A, located at the t(14;15)(q32;q11–q13) translocation breakpoint, in a case of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. Multiple copies of BCL8A map to the 1-Mb proximal duplicated region at 15q. We identified additional copies on human chromosomes 13 ( BCL8B), 22 ( BCL8C), 2 ( BCL8D), and 10 ( BCL8E) by cDNA cloning and sequence analysis. BCL8A, BCL8C, BCL8D, and BCL8E are truncated at the genomic level and are presumably pseudogenes or sterile transcripts. BCL8B is expressed predominantly in human brain and encodes a 327-kDa protein with extensive homology to the Drosophila melanogaster protein kinase A anchoring protein RG. LRBA, a human gene with a ubiquitous expression pattern mapping to 4q32, encodes a protein closely related to BCL8. The phylogenetically conserved BCL8 gene family evolved by transchromosomal and intrachromosomal duplications within the human genome.