Abstract

The polymerase chain reaction(PCR) was performed to detect clonal rearrangements of the immunoglobulin heavy chain gene(IgH) or T-cell receptor(TCR) genes in 57 lymphoproliferative diseases including 26 B-cell lymphomas and 23 peripheral T-cell lymphomas(PTCL). Using the IgH primers, monoclonality was detected in 19 out of 22(86.4%) cases of diffuse lymphomas and 2 out of 4(50%) follicular lymphomas, respectively, but not in the 23 PTCL cases. Using the V and J regions of the TCRgamma chain primers, monoclonality was detected in 14 out of the 23(60.9%) PTCL cases. TCR beta chain gene rearrangements were observed in 7 out of the 9 cases which did not show TCRgamma chain gene rearrangements. One non-T non-B acute lymphoblastic leukemia was found to have TCR beta chain gene rearrangements. In conclusion, analysis of Ig and TCR gene rearrangements by using the PCR technique can be used as a useful diagnostic adjunct to establish the clonality of various lymphoproliferative diseases.

• Keywords: Polymerase chain reaction-Clonality-B-cell lymphoma-T-cell lymphoma;