Prevalence and frequency of circulating t(14;18)‐MBR translocation carrying cells in healthy individuals

作者：Frank Schüler, Lars Dölken, Carsten Hirt, THOMAS M. KIEFER, Tobias Berg, Gerhard Fusch, Kerstin Weitmann, Wolfgang U. Hoffmann, Christoph Fusch, Siegfried Janz, Charles S. Rabkin, Gottfried Dölken · 发表于：International Journal of Cancer · 年份：2008 · DOI：10.1002/ijc.23958 · 被引用次数：98 · 研究领域：Lymphoma Diagnosis and Treatment、Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia Research、Viral-associated cancers and disorders

The t(14;18) translocation is a common genetic aberration that can be seen as an early step in pathogenesis of follicular lymphoma (FL). The significance of low level circulating t(14;18)-positive cells in healthy individuals as clonal lymphoma precursors or indicators of risk is still unclear. We determined the age dependent prevalence and frequency of BCL2/IgH rearrangements in 715 healthy individuals ranging from newborns to octo- and nonagenarians. These results were compared with number of circulating t(14;18)-positive cells in 108 FL patients at initial presentation. The overall prevalence of BCL2/IgH junctions in this large sample was 46% (327/715). However, there was a striking dependence upon age. Specifically, among individuals up to 10 years old, none had detectable circulating t(14;18)-positive cells. In the age groups representing 10-50 years old, we found a steady elevation in the prevalence of BCL2/IgH junctions up to a prevalence of 66%. Further increases of the prevalence in individuals older than 50 years were not seen. The mean frequency of BCL2/IgH junctions in healthy individuals > or =40 years (18-26 x 10(-6)) was significantly higher than in younger subjects (7-9 x 10(-6)). Four percent (31/715) of individuals carried more than one t(14;18)-positive cell per 25,000 peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMNCs). In comparison, 108 stage III/IV FL patients had a median number of circulating t(14;18)-positive malignant FL cells of about 9200/1 million PBMNCs...