Non-Hodgkin lymphomas of mice.

Studies of lymphoid neoplasms occurring in normal or genetically engineered mice have revealed parallels and differences to non-Hodgkin lymphomas (NHL) of humans. Some mouse lymphomas have strong histologic similarities to the human NHL subsets including precursor B- and T-cell lymphoblastic, small lymphocytic, splenic marginal zone, and diffuse large-cell B-cell lymphomas (DLCL); whether molecular parallels also exist is under study. Others mouse types such as sIg+ lymphoblastic B-cell lymphoma have no histologic equivalent in human NHL even though they share molecular deregulation of BCL6 with human DLCL. Finally, Burkitt lymphoma does not appear to occur naturally in mice, but it can be induced with appropriately engineered transgenes.