Nodal marginal zone B-cell lymphomas may arise from different subsets of marginal zone B lymphocytes

Nodal marginal zone B-cell lymphoma (MZL) is a rare and not extensively studied entity that accounts for approximately 2% of all non-Hodgkin lymphomas. Complementarity-determining regions 2 and 3 (CDR2, CDR3) of the immunoglobulin heavy-chain variable region (V-H) genes were amplified by polymerase chain reaction (PCR), cloned, and sequenced in 8 patients with nodal MZL. All showed a potentially functional V-H rearrangement. The use of V-H gene families was unbiased and without overrepresentation of any particular V-H gene or gene family. The presence of somatic V-H mutations was detected, with a deviation from the closest germ line sequence ranging from 4% to 17% in 6 of 8 patients. In 3 mutations, the replacement-to-silent mutation ratio suggested the presence of an antigen-selected process. Sequencing different subclones of the same cloned PCR products allowed the detection of intraclonal variability in 4 analyzed patients. The observed pattern of V-H mutations suggested that nodal MZL, formerly deemed a malignancy of memory B cells, may arise from different subsets of marginal zone B cells-the naive B cells that express unmutated V-H genes-from memory B cells showing somatic mutations without intraclonal variation, and from germinal center B cells defined by their capacity to undergo the somatic hypermutation process. (C) 2001 by The American Society of Hematology.