We investigated the frequency of mutations activating RAS oncogenes in human lymphoid malignancies, including B- and T-cell-derived acute lymphoblastic leukemia, chronic lymphocytic leukemia, and non-Hodgkin lymphoma. By the polymerase chain reaction/oligonucleotide hybridization method, DNA from 178 cases was analyzed for activating mutations involving codons 12 and 61 of the HRAS, KRAS and NR...

Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) is the most common leukemia in Western countries, and mainly originates from an accumulation of abnormal B cells caused by the dysregulation of cell proliferation and apoptosis. The aberration of proliferation-related gene in CLL cells induces cell arrest at G0/G1 phase, or a small section shows rapid cell growth, which further complicates the pathogenesis of ...

In 1928, a pathologist at Bellevue Hospital in New York City named Maurice Richter performed an autopsy on a 46-year-old man. The patient had a 2-month history of abdominal pain and weight loss and was admitted to the hospital, where he died. He was found to have lymphatic leukemia and reticulum cell sarcoma.[1] In 1964, the term “Richter's syndrome” (or “Richter's transformation”) was introduc...

BACKGROUND Chronic lymphocytic leukemia cells show prolonged survival in vivo, but rapidly die by spontaneous apoptosis in vitro, unless they are co-cultured with stromal cells or non-malignant leukocytes. The objective of this study was to characterize the survival-inducing cross-talk of chronic lymphocytic leukemia cells with their microenvironment to identify novel therapeutic targets. DES...

Several genetic mechanisms have been shown to diversity the expressed antibody repertoire of committed B lymphocytes. These include somatic hypermutation, V gene replacement, and ongoing gene rearrangement. These mechanisms may be operational at discrete points in the B-cell differentiation pathway and may generate idiotypic diversity in various malignant B-cell tumors. Hypermutation of the Ig ...