title: Detection of T-cell clonality in paraffin-embedded tissues.
abstract: In lymph node diagnosis, difficulties are frequently encountered with the differential diagnosis of reactive and neoplastic T-cell proliferations. Immunohistochemistry is of limited use, and fresh frozen material for DNA studies is not available in many cases. We have established a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technique to amplify rearranged T-cell receptor (TCR)-gamma sequences from paraffin-embedded material. Our method differs from other techniques previously described in that it uses four sets of family-specific variable (V)gamma primers. Clonality of the investigated T cells is reflected not only by the varying lengths of amplified products but also by differences in the relative amount of rearranged V gamma families. Preliminary studies indicate that this approach can provide information about the presence of predominant T-cell clones within the sample and thus help to classify the lymph node lesion. With this technique we were able to confirm clonality in seven of 12 T-cell lymphomas in paraffin-embedded tissues.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, University of Cologne, Germany.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lorenzen
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Jux
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zhao-Höhn
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Klöckner
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Fischer
authors.forename: M L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Hansmann
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001483:Base Sequence; D002648:Child; D015342:DNA Probes; D005260:Female; D015334:Gene Rearrangement, gamma-Chain T-Cell Antigen Receptor / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D016399:Lymphoma, T-Cell / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016612:Paraffin Embedding; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D015342:DNA Probes