Treatment and survival of 38 female breast lymphomas: a population-based study with clinical and pathological reviews.

Breast lymphomas are rare and consensus about their treatment is lacking. A population-based study of 38 breast lymphomas, registered in the databases of two Comprehensive Dutch Cancer Centers from 1981 to 1999, was performed. The median age of all female patients was 65 years (20-92): 25 patients had localized and 13 patients had disseminated lymphoma.

The role of molecular analysis of immunoglobulin and T cell receptor gene rearrangements in the diagnosis of lymphoproliferative disorders.

Aims: To investigate whether the analysis of immunoglobulin (Ig)/T cell receptor (TCR) rearrangements is useful in the diagnosis of lymphoproliferative disorders.

Methods: In a series of 107 consecutive cases with initial suspicion of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL), Southern blot (SB) analysis of Ig/TCR rearrangements was performed.

Results: In 98 of 100 histopathologically conclusive cases, Ig/TCR gene results were concordant.

Clinical drug-resistant nodular sclerosing Hodgkin's lymphoma is associated with decreased bcl-2 expression in the surrounding lymphocytes and with increased bcl-2 expression in the Reed-Sternberg cells.

Unlabelled: Identification of patients with Hodgkin's lymphoma who are primary refractory to chemotherapy will have great impact on treatment planning. Several studies have indicated that up-regulation of the bcl-2 proto-oncogene expression in non-Hodgkin's lymphoma can cause resistance to chemotherapeutic drugs. For this reason we investigated the relationship between expression of bcl-2, the pro-apoptotic protein Bax and MIB-1 with clinical drug-resistance in Hodgkin's lymphoma.

Comparison of different polymerase chain reaction-based approaches for clonality assessment of immunoglobulin heavy-chain gene rearrangements in B-cell neoplasia.

Several frequently applied polymerase chain reaction strategies for analysis of immunoglobulin heavy-chain gene rearrangements were compared by analyzing 70 B-cell lymphoproliferative disorders and 24 reactive lymphoid lesions. Southern blot analysis was used as the "gold standard" for clonality assessment. For polymerase chain reaction analysis, primers directed against framework (FR) 3 (FR3-A and FR3-B), FR2, and FR1 of the variable gene segments and against joining gene segments of the immunoglobulin heavy-chain gene were used.

High grade MALT-lymphoma of the breast.

A 65-year-old woman presented with a rapidly growing breast tumor, initially diagnosed as a carcinoma. Histology showed a breast lymphoma of high grade MALT-type. A lymphoma should always be considered in the differential diagnosis of a breast tumor, because it needs a different work-up and treatment.