Distinctive Patterns of Intraclonal Diversification In IGHV1-2*04 Immunoglobulin Receptors of Patients with Splenic Marginal Zone Lymphoma: A of Ongoing Interactions with Antigen?

Abstract Abstract 2638 We recently demonstrated that over 30% of cases with splenic marginal-zone lymphoma (SMZL) express distinctive immunoglobulin (IG) receptors that utilize a single polymorphic variant of the IGHV1-2 gene (IGHV1-2*04) and also exhibit restricted antigen-binding site motifs and precise targeting of somatic hypermutation (SHM). On these grounds, we proposed the existence of molecular subtypes of SMZL defined by immunogenetic analysis of the IG receptors with implications for selection by specific (super) antigenic element(s) in the development of at least a major subset of SMZL. In order to gain insight as to whether antigen involvement is relevant only prior to the malig…