AID-deficient Bcl-xL transgenic mice develop delayed atypical plasma cell tumors with unusual Ig/Myc chromosomal rearrangements.

Activation-induced cytidine deaminase (AID) is required for immunoglobulin (Ig) class switch recombination and somatic hypermutation, and has also been implicated in translocations between Ig switch regions and c-Myc in plasma cell tumors in mice. We asked if AID is required for accelerated tumor development in pristane-treated Bcl-xL transgenic BALB/c mice deficient in AID (pBxAicda-/-). pBxAicda-/- mice developed tumors with a lower frequency (24 vs.

Smad4 signalling in T cells is required for suppression of gastrointestinal cancer.

SMAD4 (MAD homologue 4 (Drosophila)), also known as DPC4 (deleted in pancreatic cancer), is a tumour suppressor gene that encodes a central mediator of transforming growth factor-beta signalling. Germline mutations in SMAD4 are found in over 50% of patients with familial juvenile polyposis, an autosomal dominant disorder characterized by predisposition to hamartomatous polyps and gastrointestinal cancer. Dense inflammatory cell infiltrates underlay grossly normal appearing, non-polypoid colonic and gastric mucosa of patients with familial juvenile polyposis.

Myeloma proteins that bind Hsp65 (GroEL) are polyreactive and are found in high incidence in pristine induced plasmacytomas.

The myeloma proteins produced by 44 plasmacytomas (PCTs) recently induced by pristane in BALB/cAnPt and closely related PCT susceptible congenic strains of mice were isolated chromatographically and screened against a panel of 10 protein, nucleic acid and lipid antigens. This sample was highly unusual because 82% of the proteins had IgG isotopes. Nine of the proteins bound to Hsp65 (GroEL), and all of these were polyreactative.

Clonal diversification of primary BALB/c plasmacytomas harboring T(12;15) chromosomal translocations.

DNA sequence analysis of PCR amplified Igh/c-myc junction fragments of T(12;15) chromosome translocations and immunohistochemical determination of immunoglobulin isotype production were employed to study the clonal diversification of neoplastic translocated plasma cells that resided in peritoneal inflammatory granulomas of BALB/c mice harboring primary plasmacytomas. The diversity of plasma cells was found to take two major forms when the fine structure of the T(12;15) translocation was used as the clonotypic marker. First, mosaics of clones containing translocations that were apparently unrelated to each other were detected in nine out of 17 (53%) mice.

Immunoglobulin/Myc recombinations in murine Peyer's patch follicles.

Immunoglobulin heavy chain (Igh)/Myc recombinations are a hallmark of pristane-induced mouse plasmacytomas but are also frequently found in non-tumorous tissues. Here we describe for the first time a PCR-based technique for detecting fusions between Igh mu or Igh alpha and Myc in situ. Igh/Myc recombinations were found in transplanted and primary plasmacytomas.