Gene rearrangements in follicular lymphoma among Indonesian.

AIM Gene rearrangement has an important role in the management of lymphoma. We investigated the rearrangements of B-cell leukaemia/lymphoma 2 (BCL2), BCL6 and Paired homeobox 5 (PAX5) genes in Indonesian follicular lymphoma (FL) patients. METHODS We examined gene rearrangements using various kinds of polymerase chain reactions (PCRs) on 24 patients' peripheral blood DNA. RESULTS BCL2 rearrangement was found in 58% (14 of 24 patients), 8 at mbr (major breakpoint region), 2 at mcr (minor cluster region) and 4 at icr (intermediate cluster region), respectively. No rearrangement in BCL6 and PAX5 was detected. There was a significant difference in the incidence of spleen involvement between patients with BCL-2 rearrangement and without it (50% vs. 11%, p=0.04). BCL-2 rearrangement was correlated with spleen involvement (OR=9) and anemia (OR=2.3). CONCLUSION BCL2 rearrangement in Indonesian FL was higher than previous reports from other Asia countries (58% vs. 48%, respectively). Our method using peripheral blood DNA might be useful for the molecular diagnosis of FL.