Schematic overview of the IgH gene sequences of the different lymphoma components.

(A) Sequence of the VH3-30 germ line allele and the combined sequences for the CLL component (clones 1-6), ALCL component (clones 11-15), and the HL component (clones 21-24). (B) Sequence of the VH3-23 germ line allele and the combined sequences for the CLL component (clones 7-10), ALCL component (clones 16-20), and the HL component (clones 25 and 26). It can be seen that the 3-primed sequence of the HL clones 25 and 26 are not identical to the sequence of the CLL and ALCL components. Comparison of this 3-primed sequence (HL clones 25 and 26) to the sequence of the rearranged VH3-30 allele (panel A; HL [VH3-23]) revealed that this part of the sequence is identical to the 3-primed sequence of the rearranged VH3-30 allele of the CLL, ALCL, and HL components. This presumed crossing-over event most likely represents a PCR artifact. The nucleotides corresponding to the primer sequences used for the amplification are shown in bold. A dash indicates a nucleotide identical to the germ line sequence; a dot indicates the position of a deletion compared with the germ line sequence; and presence of an A, C, G, or T indicates a mutation compared with the germ line sequence. The question marks indicate the location of the presumed crossing-over event, based on the sequence identity to the 5-primed sequence of the VH3-23 allele on the one hand and to the 3-primed sequence of the VH3-30 allele on the other hand.