Expression of the translation initiation factors eIF-4E and eIF-2α is frequently increased in neoplastic cells of Hodgkin lymphoma

SummaryThe rate of protein synthesis is regulated in part by 2 key translation initiation factors, eIF-4E and eIF-2α. The expression and activity of both factors are increased transiently when normal resting cells are stimulated to proliferate, but they are constitutively elevated in oncogene-transformed cultured cells. Overexpression of either initiation factor induces a tumorigenic phenotype in rodent cells. We have shown earlier that expression of both eIF-4E and eIF-2α is increased in non-Hodgkin lymphomas (non-HLs). In this study, we performed an immunohistochemical survey of these translation initiation factors in neoplastic cells of HL. We also used Western blot to addressed the possibility that eIF-4E increases expression of NFκB. Our results indicate that both eIF-4E and eIF-2α are strongly expressed in neoplastic cells of HL in most cases examined as compared with weak or undetectable expression in most surrounding lymphocytes. An increase in eIF-4E expression may lead to constitutively high expression of NFκB, a transcription factor implicated in resistance to apoptosis and induction of cytokine gene expression in various cells, including neoplastic cells of HL.