Lymphoid neoplasms, like all malignant tumors, arise as a consequence of the accumulation, in a single cell, of a set of genetic lesions that result in altered proliferation or increased clonal life span. The most frequently observed genetic abnormalities among the malignant non-Hodgkin's lymphomas are translocations, which appear to be lineage and, to a large extent, lymphoma specific. Recombinases that normally mediate the process of antigen receptor gene rearrangement appear to have an important (but not exclusive) role in the mediation of these translocations and of other types of gene fusion (e.g., deletion of intervening DNA). Frequently, such fusions result in the increased or inappropriate expression of crucially important proteins, many of which are transcription factors that regulate the expression of other genes. These abnormalities, however, do not appear to be sufficient to induce lymphoma, and it is likely that the additional genetic lesions required differ from one tumor to another. The likelihood of any given clone of cells accumulating a sufficient number of relevant genetic lesions to give rise to a lymphoma is probably a function of its life span. Prolonged survival of a cell clone may be mediated by viral genomes (e.g., Epstein-Barr virus and human T-cell leukemia/lymphoma virus type 1), by the abnormal expression of cellular genes that inhibit apoptosis (e.g., bcl-2), or by the mutation or deletion of cellular genes that are necessary for apoptosis, e.g., p53. The background rate at which genetic lesions occur is amplified by the interaction of inherited and environmental factors, the latter appearing to be the major determinant of incidence rates. However, inherited factors that influence lymphomagenesis, including variability in the ability to repair DNA damage or in the fidelity of antigen receptor recombinases for their signal sequences, may be crucial determinants of which particular individuals in a given environmental setting develop lymphoma.