A deletion in the gene for transforming growth factor beta type I receptor abolishes growth regulation by transforming growth factor beta in a cutaneous T-cell lymphoma.

Spontaneous regression of skin lesions is characteristic of lymphomatoid papulosis (LyP), a clonal cutaneous lymphoproliferative disorder. A minority of LyP patients progress to anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALCL) in which skin lesions no longer regress and extracutaneous dissemination often occurs. In 1 such case, we developed a tumor cell line, JK cells, and show that these cells are resistant to the growth inhibitory effects of transforming growth factor beta (TGF-beta) due to the loss of cell surface expression of the TGF-beta type I receptor (TbetaR-I). Reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and sequencing of JK cell TbetaR-I cDNA clones identified a deletion that spanned the last 178 bp of exon 1, including the initiating methionine. Hybridization of a radiolabeled fragment internal to the deletion was detected in the genomes of TGF-beta-responsive cells, but not in JK cells, indicating that they contain no wild-type TbetaR-I gene. PCR primers that flanked the deleted TbetaR-I region amplified a single band from JK cell genomic DNA that lacked the last 178 bp of exon 1 and all of the approximately 5 kb of intron 1. This JK cell-specific genomic TbetaR-I PCR product was distinct from products amplified from TGF-beta-responsive cells and was also readily detected in tumor biopsies obtained before the establishment of the JK cell line. Our results identify the first inactivating mutation in TbetaR-I gene in a human lymphoma that renders it insensitive to growth inhibition by TGF-beta.