title: T cell receptor and immunoglobulin gene rearrangement analysis as a laboratory aid in the diagnosis of human malignant lymphoproliferative diseases.
abstract: The identification of clonal rearrangements of the immunoglobulin heavy chain and T cell receptor beta chain gene loci by Southern blot analysis has led to advances in the diagnosis and classification of lymphoproliferative disorders. This paper reviews our experience with this technique over a three and a half year period. Specimens from 99 patients with suspected haematological malignancy were tested for leucocyte immunophenotype and immunoglobulin or T cell receptor gene rearrangement. Genotyping provided evidence of clonality in malignancies from 28 patients and demonstrated malignant cell lineage in eight patients not formally deduced from immunophenotyping alone. Our findings suggest that this technique can be employed in conjunction with immunophenotyping to aid in the determination of malignant cell lineage derivation and identification of malignant cell clonality, as well as potentially estimating the extent of disease, detecting relapse, and monitoring disease progression.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, University of Melbourne, St Vincent's Hospital, Vic., Australia.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Dietzsch
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hong
authors.forename: D E
authors.initials: DE
authors.lastname: Leslie
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Martin
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Rolland
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Benson
authors.forename: B H
authors.initials: BH
authors.lastname: Toh
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: McCluskey
mesh_terms: D015321:Gene Rearrangement / Q000235:genetics*; D015329:Gene Rearrangement, T-Lymphocyte / Q000235:genetics; D005803:Genes, Immunoglobulin / Q000235:genetics*; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D007143:Immunoglobulin Heavy Chains / Q000235:genetics*; D016130:Immunophenotyping; D008232:Lymphoproliferative Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000235:genetics; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity
chemical_list: D007143:Immunoglobulin Heavy Chains