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B and T lymphocyte attenuator (BTLA) is a lymphocyte inhibitory receptor mainly expressed on several subsets of T and B lymphocytes. In the current retrospective study, BTLA expression is examined for the first time on formalin fixed and paraffin embedded (FFPE) tissue sections of mature B cell non-Hodgkin's lymphomas (253 cases), using a newly developed monoclonal antibody. BTLA is highly expressed in chronic lymphocytic leukemia/small lymphocytic lymphoma. In contrast, BTLA expression is nearly absent in mantle cell lymphoma and is not expressed in any of the follicular lymphoma cases of all grades. In marginal zone lymphoma, diffuse large B cell lymphoma, and Burkitt's lymphoma, a minority of the cases exhibit expression of BTLA. This study demonstrates the value of BTLA expression as an additional tool in the panel of immunochemical markers used for the differential diagnosis of mature B cell lymphomas in FFPE tissue sections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]