RESUMEN
Objective To investigate the expression of B-cell activating factor ( BAFF ) and its specific receptor BAFF-R in patients with B-cell non-Hodgkin′s lymphoma ( B-NHL) and to analyze the cor-relations between BAFF and the development of B-NHL.Methods RTQ-PCR and Western blot assay were used to measure the expression of BAFF and its specific receptor BAFF-R in patients with B-NHL.Fluores-cence immunocytochemical staining was used to determine the localization of BAFF and BAFF-R in Raji cells, a B-NHL cell line.The expression of BAFF in tumor tissues from patients with B-NHL of different his-tologic subtypes was measured by immunohistochemistry.WST proliferation and TUNEL assays were used to evaluate the effects of BAFF and BAFF-R on the proliferation, survival rate and apoptosis of Raji cells.Lin-ear correlations between the concentrations of lactate dehydrogenase ( LDH) and the expression of BAFF and BAFF at mRNA and protein levels in patients with B-NHL were analyzed.Results BAFF and its specific receptor BAFF-R were expressed in Raji cells and played an important role in the survival and proliferation of B-NHL cell line.The expression of BAFF in tumor cells from patients with B-NHL varied with the different histologic subtypes of B-NHL.Patients with small B-cell malignant lymphoma, large B-cell lymphoma ( LBCL) , mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue lymphoma ( MALT lymphoma) and follicular lymphoma showed higher levels of BAFF, while those with mantle cell lymphoma showed lower levels of BAFF.Compared with the healthy subjects, patients with B-NHL showed significantly increased expression of BAFF at mRNA and protein levels.The levels of LDH were closely related to the expression of BAFF at mRNA and protein lev-els.Conclusion BAFF and its specific receptor BAFF-R might play an important role in the growth and survival of malignant B cells.