Follicular Lymphoma (FLL)

Background

Follicular Lymphoma

One of the more familiar types of “indolent” NHL, FL is defined as the lymphoma of follicule center B Cells, which have at least a particularly follicular pattern. Its genetic origin has been correlated in large to t(14;18) which causes excessive expression of the Bcl-2 gene, and recently, some reported cases of translocation involving Bcl-6 gene at 3q27. These cells generally surface express CD10 but not CD5. The “tumors”, or the involved lymph follicles, contain a mixture of “small” cleaved follicle center cells (or centrocytes) and “large” non-cleaved follicle center cells (or centroblasts), with the former usually in predominance. Follicular lymphoma is generally indolent but can seldom progress to more aggressive large cell lymphomas such as DLBCL.