title: Terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase activity in lymphoma.
abstract: Terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase (TdT) was estimated in the tissues of 42 patients with lymphoma, whose cells were also typed by the use of surface markers. Four of the 8 patients with T-cell lymphoma were TdT+ including patients whose lymph nodes showed an undifferentiated or poorly differentiated appearance. The TdT- T-cell lymphomas included cases with diffuse histiocytic Sezary cell, diffuse, poorly differentiated and angio-immunoblastic histology. The tissues of 31 patients with B-cell lymphoma were invariably TdT-, whether the histology was poorly differentiated, well differentiated, nodular, diffuse, histiocytic or Burkitt type, and including cases with about equal proportions of T and B cells, and those whose cells showed non-capping and capping surface immunoglobulin. Hodgkin's tissue was also invariably TdT-. We conclude that estimation of TdT in tissues of patients with malignant lymphoma may be a useful test in diagnosing the T-cell lymphoma, particularly in patients with tumours of undifferentiated or poorly differentiated histology.
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001402:B-Lymphocytes; D002648:Child; D004253:DNA Nucleotidylexotransferase / Q000378:metabolism*; D004254:DNA Nucleotidyltransferases / Q000378:metabolism*; D005260:Female; D006689:Hodgkin Disease / Q000201:enzymology / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans; D008221:Lymphoid Tissue / Q000201:enzymology; D008223:Lymphoma / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000276:immunology; D008297:Male; D011947:Receptors, Antigen, B-Cell / Q000032:analysis; D013601:T-Lymphocytes
chemical_list: D011947:Receptors, Antigen, B-Cell; D004254:DNA Nucleotidyltransferases; D004253:DNA Nucleotidylexotransferase