Antigen Background

Bcl-2 is a member of a family of proteins that are involved in apoptosis. Bcl-2 is an integral inner mitochondrial membrane protein of 25 kD and has a wide tissue distribution. It is considered to act as an inhibitor of apoptosis. For this reason, bcl-2 expression is inhibited in germinal centers where apoptosis forms part of the B cell production pathway.

In 90% of follicular lymphomas a translocation occurs which juxtaposes the bcl-2 gene at 18q21, to an immunoglobulin gene. This t(14;18) translocation can deregulate gene expression and bcl-2 over-expression can be demonstrated immunohistochemically in the vast majority of follicular lymphomas.

Disclaimer

Bcl-2 Oncoprotein is recommended for the detection of specific antigens of interest in normal and neoplastic tissues, as an adjunct to conventional histopathology using non-immunologic histochemical stains.