This gene is directly involved, with Myc and IgH, in a three-way gene translocation in a Burkitt lymphoma cell line. As a result of the gene translocation, the N-terminal region of the gene product is disrupted, which is thought to be related to the pathogenesis of a subset of high-grade B cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma. The N-terminal segment involved in the translocation includes the region that shares a strong sequence similarity with those of BCL7B and BCL7C. Two transcript variants encoding different isoforms have been found for this gene. [provided by RefSeq, Jul 2008].
Zani, Asou, Jadayel, Heward, Shipley, Nacheva, Takasuki, Catovsky, Dyer: "Molecular cloning of complex chromosomal translocation t(8;14;12)(q24.1;q32.3;q24.1) in a Burkitt lymphoma cell line defines a new gene (BCL7A) with homology to caldesmon." in: Blood, Vol. 87, Issue 8, pp. 3124-34, (1996) (PubMed).