Malignant hematopoietic cell lines: in vitro models for double-hit B-cell lymphomas.

Mature B-cell lymphomas with concurrent rearrangements of MYC and BCL2 (more rarely BCL6), "double-hit lymphomas" (DHLs), form a heterogeneous group. Recent studies have shown that DHLs often present with an aggressive clinical course and a poor prognosis with standard therapy. This distinct clinical entity would benefit from more detailed pathobiological characterization to develop improved treatment options. Lymphoma cell lines are important and informative research tools. Several cell lines have been established from B-cell lymphoma patients harboring MYC rearrangements combined with either (double-hit) or both (triple-hit) BCL2 or BCL6 translocations. All rearrangements have been detected by cytogenetics and validated by FISH. These cell lines provide preclinical models for basic and translational research which speed development of effective treatment strategies.