title: The rapid detection of clonal T-cell proliferations in patients with lymphoid disorders.
abstract: A series of T-cell proliferations in peripheral blood, bone marrow, or tissue samples were analyzed for clonality. The technique used employs the polymerase chain reaction to amplify portions of the rearranged T-cell receptor beta chain genes, using primers recognizing conserved sequences of the variable, diversity, and joining region segments. We examined 17 cases of T-cell lymphoma or leukemia; a clone was identified in 13 cases (76%) overall and in 7 of 8 cases (87.5%) in which both beta-chain alleles were known to be rearranged, as shown by restriction enzyme analysis. No clonal rearrangements were detected in samples from 13 non-T-cell disorders, including B-cell lymphomas, reactive lymphoid proliferations, and nonlymphoid tumors. This method is useful for detecting clones in thymic and post-thymic T-cell malignancies and has the advantages of being extremely rapid (a result is obtained within hours of the biopsy procedure), requiring no radiolabeling, using only a small amount of tissue, and being applicable to formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissue.
authors.affiliation: Leukaemia Research Fund Centre, Institute of Cancer Research, Chester Beatty Laboratories, London, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: K P
authors.initials: KP
authors.lastname: McCarthy
authors.forename: J P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Sloane
authors.forename: J H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Kabarowski
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Matutes
authors.forename: L M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Wiedemann
mesh_terms: D001402:B-Lymphocytes; D002455:Cell Division; D002999:Clone Cells; D015329:Gene Rearrangement, T-Lymphocyte; D006801:Humans; D007938:Leukemia / Q000473:pathology*; D008228:Lymphoma, Non-Hodgkin / Q000473:pathology*; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000473:pathology*