Comment

Low grade B cell lymphomas of mucosa associated lymphoid tissue (MALT) are tumours with characteristically indolent behaviour. They have relatively low proliferation index, benign cellular morphology and histology, and the tumour cells are often interspersed among chronic inflammatory cells.1 Some cases of low grade gastric MALT lymphoma are dependent on local infection withHelicobacter pylori, compounding their image as very low grade malignancies.2 The advent of sensitive polymerase chain reaction methods however showed that these are indeed tumours which can advance, both in stage, and from low to high grade.3 Within this group of relatively non-threatening tumours, there are some clinically aggressive ones. Cells from some of these tumours proliferate spontaneously in tissue culture and have a chromosomal translocation between chromosome 1 and the immunoglobulin heavy chain locus on chromosome 14 (t(1;14)(p22;q32)).4-6Tumours without the translocation die in culture. Williset al have identified and described the properties of a novel gene, Bcl10, which is located at the chromosomal breakpoint. They characterised both wild type Bcl10 …