In general, the large cell lymphomas are a cytogenetically heterogeneous group of diseases, and the cytogenetic findings do not correlate with morphological findings in this group of malignant lymphomas. The CD30-positive anaplastic large cell lymphomas, however, are thought to be an exception, with the t(2;5) reported to correlate with the morphological changes of this disease entity. A subgroup of Hodgkin's disease cases have been reported by some investigators to have the t(2;5) translocation, leading to speculation that these two diseases are related. In the current study, the authors used a sensitive reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) methodology to evaluate the frequency of t(2;5) in 33 cases of large cell lymphoma, of B lineage, other than anaplastic large cell lymphoma. The authors detected evidence of t(2;5) in four of the cases (12%), a frequency similar to that of the authors' previous study of cases of CD30 positive anaplastic large cell lymphoma. Three of the positive large B-cell lymphoma cases were CD30 negative and were morphologically indistinguishable from the cases without evidence of t(2;5). The fourth case had a subpopulation of CD30 positive cells but also did not have morphological features of anaplastic large cell lymphoma. These results would suggest that t(2;5) is not restricted to cases of malignant lymphomas with anaplastic morphology or to CD30 expression.