A novel human B‐cell line (U‐2904) bearing t(8;14) and t(14;18) translocations

Sequential activation of bcl‐2 and c‐myc appears to be involved in the pathogenesis of rare de novo acute lymphoid leukemias bearing both t(8; 14) and t(14;18). Acquisition of t(8;14) by follicular‐lymphoma cells with t(14;18) has also been related to the clinical transformation into an overt acute lymphoid leukemia in rare cases reported, and a role for c‐myc involvement in the progression of some follicular lymphomas with t(14;18) has been suggested by the detection of c‐myc rearrangements in association with histologic transformation. However, c‐myc abnormalities different from those observed in Burkitt's lymphoma have been reported in diffuse large‐cell lymphomas with breakpoints in 8q24, and a t(8;14) molecularly different from the classical one has been found in follicular lymphomas without t(14;18). We report the preliminary characterization of the EBV‐negative cell line U 2904 established from a transformed follicular lymphoma that carries both t(8;14) (q24;q32) and t(14;18) (q32;q21) translocations. U 2904 cells have a mature B‐cell phenotype, grow in agarose and are tumorigenic in nude mice. Rearrangements of both c‐myc and bcl‐2 confirmed the involvement of both oncogenes in the translocations which lead to abundant c‐myc and bcl‐2 transcripts. Two JH rearrangements and one Cα rearrangement were observed which did not co‐migrate with either c‐myc or bcl‐2 rearrangements. This is the first report of a cell line bearing both t(8;14) and t(14;18) derived from a follicular lymphoma after documented transformation into a centroblas‐tic lymphoma without leukemic features. U 2904 provides further evidence for the involvement of c‐myc in the progression of follicular lymphomas. © 1995 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.