The t( I I ; 14)(q I3;q32) is a recurring translocation associated with some chronic B-cell lymphocytic malignancies; the putative protooncogene BCLI, located at the chromosome band I I q I 3, can be involved during the translocation process. In order t o determine if BCLI rearrangement is associated with a particular subtype of lymphoma, we analysed I 3 I B-cell non-Hodgkin's lymphoma samples by Southern blot analysis, using a BCLI probe. The BCLI locus was rearranged in 9 out of 25 (36%) cases of intermediate lymphocytic cell lymphomas (ILL), in I out of 8 cases of diffuse small cleaved cell lymphoma, in I out of I 2 cases of diffuse mixed cell lymphoma and in I out of 21 cases of diffuse large cell lymphoma. In contrast, BCLl was never found rearranged in any of the 46 follicular lymphomas analysed. The BCL2 gene was in germ-line configuration in all ILL. Sequential hybridization of Southern blots with JH, Cp, and BCLI probes identified comigrating fragments in only one case of ILL, which suggests that, in all the other cases, either the rearrangement of BCLI did not result from a t( I I ; 14) translocation or the break on chromosome 14 occurred outside the JH or Cp regions. These results indicate that rearrangement of the BCLI locus may be closely associated with ILL and could be considered as a genotypic marker of this lymphoma subtype.
MATERIALS AND METHODS Tissue Samples
Fresh tissues were obtained from diagnostic specimens from 148 patients at the