Genomic imbalances and patterns of karyotypic variability in mantle-cell lymphoma cell lines

Mantle-cell lymphoma (MCL) is genetically characterized by 11q13 chromosomal translocations involving the CCND1 gene. We have characterized five MCL cell lines, JVM-2, GRANTA-519, REC-1, JEKO-1, and NCEB-1, combining metaphase and array comparative genomic hybridization, multicolor-FISH, and molecular analysis. Our results revealed common gained regions at 2p14, 9q31.2–qter, 11q13.1–q21, 13q14–q21.2, 13q34–qter and 18q21.1–q22.1, and losses at 1p21.2–p31.1, 2p11.2, 8p21.2–pter, 9p21.3–pter, 11q23.3–qter, 17p11.2–pter, and 17q21.2–q22.2. All cell lines except JVM-2, displayed moderate or high numerical chromosome instability. In addition, an ongoing level of chromosome rearrangements was observed in REC-1. Surprisingly, NCEB-1 carried several stable mouse chromosomes and showed expression of both human and murine bcl-2 protein. Our findings indicate that these cell lines represent three patterns of chromosome evolution in MCL and may be useful to understand the pathogenesis of this neoplasm.