Apoptosis Detection And The Expression Of Bcl-10 And NF-κB In Gastrointestinal MALT Lymphoma

PurposeTo identify the apoptotic cells in gastrointestinal MALT lymphoma and its relationship with bcl-10 and NF-kB gene expression. MethodsParaffin embedded tissues from 40 MALT lymphomas , including 31 low grade classical MALT lymphomas and 9 MALT lymphomas with large cell transformation (transformed MALT lymphoma) and 14 normal lymph nodes and 10 gastrointestinal mucosa associated lymphoid tissues (MALT) were enrolled. Immunohistochemical staining , in situ hybridization techniques and apoptosis detection by TUNEL were carried out in all cases. Results(1) Of the 40 MALT lymphomas, 36(90.0%) were positive for bcl-10 protein, 15 cases exhibited bcl-10 protein expression in both the nucleus and cytoplasm ,whereas the remaining 21 cases displayed only cytoplasmic bcl-10. Of the 40 MALT lymphomas , 39(97.5%) were bcl-10 mRNA positive. The expression of bcl-10 protein and its mRNA had no statistical significance (P>0.05). bcl-10 protein nuclear expression was related to the clinical stages (P<0.01) .(2) 57.1%(8/14) lymph nodes and 60.0%(6/10) MALT showed bcl-10 protein positive staining , bcl-10 was expressed predominantly in the cytoplasm. In B-cell follicles: bcl-10 protein was expressed abundantly in the germinal center B cells, moderately in the marginal zone B cells, but only weakly in the mantle zone B cells. MALT lymphomas expressed a significantly higher level of bcl-10 protein than normal lymph nodes and MALT CPO.01) .(3) NF-kB protein was expressed in 30.0% of MALT, 61.3% of the Low-grade tumors and 88.9% of the transformed tumors. The positive rate of NF-kB was significantly increased as the histological grade advanced (P<0.01); Apoptotic indices (AI) in MALT were significantly higher than those in MALT lymphoma (P<0.01); There was an inverse correlation between AI and the expression of NF-kB among all cases (PO.01).(4) bcl-10 protein expression in MALT lymphoma correlated closely with NF-kB protein (P<0.05).Conclusions(1) bcl-10 shows active mRNA transcription and high protein expression in gastrointestinal MALT lymphoma and correlate closely with NF-kB activation.(2) bcl-10 protein nuclear expression may be associated with advanced gastrointestinal MALT lymphoma...