Restriction fragment length polymorphism of the L-myc oncogene in non-Hodgkinʹs lymphoma patients from India

We examined 89 non-Hodgkinʹs lymphoma (NHL) patients of Indian origin for EcoRI restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) of the L-myc gene with a view to testing the hypothesis that the presence of the L-myc S-allele predisposes towards NHL. We found no significant difference either in the distribution of the LL, LS and SS genotypes or in the allelic frequencies between the patient group and the control group with the frequencies of L-myc alleles, L (10.0 kb) and S (6.6 kb), being 0.56 and 0.44, respectively, in the patient group and 0.54 and 0.46, respectively, in the control group. However, a higher proportion (70%) of the S-allele was observed in our control group of normal healthy volunteers. Thus, the presence of L-myc S-allele did not indicate increased susceptibility or predisposition to the malignancy.