Gene expression profiling of marginal zone B-cell lymphomas and variants

Large cell lymphomas of the gastrointestinal tract are currently regarded as diffuse large B-cell lymphomas despite a more favourable clinical outcome and a lower aggressiveness compared to other nodal and extranodal DLBCL. We compared gene expression profiles of 28 gastrointestinal marginal zone B-cell lymphomas and variants with several other B-cell lymphoma entities such as Burkitt’s lymphoma, nodal DLBCL, follicular lymphoma, mantle cell lymphoma, primary mediastinal B-cell lymphoma and normal B-cell populations. Based on a subset of NF-kappaB target genes, partitioning and hierarchical cluster algorithms were used which led to comparable results. The different B-cell subsets, the Burkitt’s lymphoma, and the small cell lymphomas formed distinct groups, respectively. The DLBCL were subdivided into one group containing only DLBCL samples, one subset clustered together with the PMBL samples, and another one together with the blastic variants of MZBL. These results implicate that extranodal blastic MZBL represent a distinct subgroup of DLBCL. Affymetrix arrays were performed according to the manufacturer's directions on RNA extracted from cryopreserved tumor samples. Gene expression analysis on Affymetrix HG U133 plus 2.0 arrays was performed for 2 gastric follicular lymphoma, 8 small cell MALT lymphomas, 9 large cell areas of Composite lymphomas and 13 large cell variants.