Genomic alterations and gene expression in primary diffuse large B cell lymphomas of immune privileged sites

Primary diffuse large B cell lymphomas of different immune-privileged sites (IP-DLBCL) share many clinical and biological features, such as a relatively poor prognosis, preferential dissemination to other immune-privileged sites and deletion of the HLA region, which suggests that IP-DLBCL represents a separate entity. To further investigate the nature of IP-DLBCL, we investigated site-specific genomic aberrations in 16 testicular, 9 central nervous system (CNS) and 15 nodal DLBCL using array-CGH. We also determined minimal common regions of gain and loss. Using robust algorithms, the array-CGH data were combined with gene expression data to explore pathways deregulated by chromosomal aberrations. Keywords: comparative genomic hybridisation, gene expression, tumor type comparison Whole tissue sections of 16 testicular, 9 central nervous system (CNS) and 15 nodal DLBCL were used for isolation of genomic DNA and total RNA. Genomic aberrations were determined using an in house printed CGH array containing ~3700 large genomic insert clones. Gene expression was analyzed on Affymetrix HU133 plus 2.0 oligo arrays. Gene expression data and arrayCGH data were combined using the R program ACE-it.