Background: lyn is one of the src family genes encoding protein-tyrosine kinases, expressed preferentially in B lymphocytes and monocytes/macrophages. Its gene product, Lyn protein, is thought to participate in cell membrane-associated signal transduction on B lymphocytes by associating physically and functionally with membrane-bound IgM.
Experimental design: To investigate the expression of Lyn on human malignant lymphomas (MLs), 50 ML biopsies, 12 ML samples maintained in mice with severe combined immunodeficiency, and 4 African Burkitt type cell lines were studied with the use of immunohistology, immunochemistry, and Southern blot analysis.
Results: Among biopsy specimens, 27 of 27 B-MLs, 5 of 21 T-MLs, and 2 of 2 null-MLs were stained. In severe combined immunodeficiency mouse-maintained B-MLs, unlike biopsied B-MLs, 4 of 11 were found to be unstained. Further analysis disclosed that all 4 of these unstained B-MLs were the Epstein Barr virus transformed B cells proliferating in severe combined immunodeficiency mice and not the original ML cells, suggesting the presence of a specific mechanism down-regulating the Lyn protein in this group. One IgA+ IgM- B-ML and one IgG+ IgM- B-ML were stained by the antibody, indicating the possible existence of molecular mechanisms other than membrane-bound IgM that facilitate Lyn protein expression. Decrease of Lyn expression was also noted in 3 of 4 Epstein-Barr virus-positive African Burkitt's ML lines. Complementary Western blot analysis of 8 immunostained and 4 unstained MLs confirmed the immunohistologic findings. However Southern blot analysis showed that the lyn gene in Lyn-positive and -negative cases were apparently unchanged.
Conclusions: The level of Lyn expression in MLs reflects mainly their normal counterpart, whereas it can be expressed somewhat differently in some cases, especially in Epstein Barr virus-transformed MLs that occur in immunocompromised hosts, on which it is often down-regulated. This is the first report of Lyn expression on human MLs.