1. Characterization of c-Maf Transcription Factor in Normal and Neoplastic Hematolymphoid Tissue and Its Relevance in Plasma Cell Neoplasia
- Author
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Manuel Rodriguez-Justo, David Y. Mason, Jennifer C. Paterson, Andrew H. Beck, Teresa Marafioti, Sara Tedoldi, Yasodha Natkunam, Shuchun Zhao, and Reiner Siebert
- Subjects
Lymphoma ,Blotting, Western ,Palatine Tonsil ,Gene Expression ,Biology ,Plasma cell ,Article ,immune system diseases ,hemic and lymphatic diseases ,Gene expression ,Biomarkers, Tumor ,medicine ,Humans ,Hairy cell leukemia ,Transcription factor ,In Situ Hybridization, Fluorescence ,B cell ,General Medicine ,medicine.disease ,Immunohistochemistry ,Leukemia ,medicine.anatomical_structure ,Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-maf ,Cancer research ,Multiple Myeloma - Abstract
c-Maf, a leucine zipper-containing transcription factor, is involved in the t(14;16)(q32;q23) translocation found in 5% of myelomas. A causal role for c-Maf in myeloma pathogenesis has been proposed, but data on c-Maf protein expression are lacking. We therefore studied the expression of c-Maf protein by immunohistochemical analysis in myelomas and in a wide variety of hematopoietic tissue. c-Maf protein was detected in a small minority (4.3%) of myelomas, including a t(14;16)(q32;q22-23)/IgH-Maf+ case, suggesting that c-Maf protein is not expressed in the absence of c-Maf rearrangement. In contrast, c-Maf was strongly expressed in hairy cell leukemia (4/4) and in a significant proportion of T-cell (24/42 [57%]) and NK/T-cell (49/97 [51%]) lymphomas, which is in keeping with prior gene expression profiling and transgenic mouse studies. Up-regulation of c-Maf protein occurs in a small subset of myelomas, in hairy cell leukemia, and in T- and NK-cell neoplasms. Its detection may be of particular value in the differential diagnosis of small cell lymphomas.
- Published
- 2009