Objective: To explore the significance of BCL-10 protein expression in the gastrointestinal mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue (MALT) lymphoma.
Methods: Immunohistochemistry studies were performed using CD20, CD79a, CD3, CD45RO, CD23, CD5, CD10 monoclonal antibodies in 43 cases of gastrointestinal MALT lymphomas, including 25 indolent classical MALT lymphomas and 18 MALT lymphomas with large cell transformation. BCL-10 protein expression was assayed in the tumor cells.
Results: In 25 low-grade MALT lymphomas, expression of BCL-10 was found in the nuclei in 10 cases, in both nuclei and cytoplasm 1 case, in cytoplasm 3 cases and no expression 11 cases. In 18 transformed MALT lymphomas, BCL-10 was expressed in the nuclei in 7 cases, in both nuclei and cytoplasm 1 case, in cytoplasm 2 cases, no expression 8 cases. The frequency of BCL-10 expression in nuclei was the highest (44.2%).
Conclusion: The frequency of BCL-10 expression in nuclei in the gastrointestinal MALT lymphoma is high, indicating that it may associate with the pathogenesis of this entity, and may be helpful to its diagnosis.