title: Single-cell analysis of T-cell receptor-gamma rearrangements in large-cell anaplastic lymphoma.
abstract: Large-cell anaplastic lymphomas (LCAL) are characterized by their distinctive morphology together with expression of the CD30 antigen. In addition, a chromosomal translocation, t(2;5) (p23; q35), can be detected in most cases. A significant proportion of LCALs carry rearrangements of the T-cell receptor-gamma (TCR-gamma) locus and display a T-cell phenotype. In about a third of the cases, another type of non-Hodgkin-lymphoma precedes LCAL. Early transformations of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma into LCAL might escape clinical detection in a significant number of cases. The existence of clonally related lymphoid cells within the lymph node infiltrates must be claimed in these cases. Recently, a small-cell-predominant variant of LCAL was described in which only few large tumor cells expressing the CD30 antigen are found together with numerous small lymphocytes, which are frequently CD30-. This observation in particular prompted us to investigate the clonal relationship of the tumor cell compartment and admixed small lymphocytes in one case of common LCAL with T-cell genotype. For this purpose, we chose to amplify rearranged TCR-gamma sequences from single cells isolated from immunostained frozen sections by using a micromanipulator. A total of 119 cells were investigated. Amplification products were obtained in 17 of 79 CD3+ cells, 12 of 30 CD30+ cells, and three of 10 CD20+ cells. The nucleotide sequences were determined in 28 cells by nonradioactive sequencing. In 11 CD30+ cells, the predominant rearrangement of TCR-gamma was identified. No clonal diversity was observed. The small CD3+ lymphocytes were unrelated to the anaplastic CD30+ tumor cells. This report describes a method to analyze rearrangements of the TCR-gamma in single cells isolated from immunostained frozen sections. Application of this technique revealed an absence of clonal diversity in a case of LCAL and documented the polyclonal nature of admixed small CD3+ lymphocytes.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, University of Cologne, Germany.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lorenzen
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wintzer
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zhao-Hohn
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Simons
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Klockner
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Fischer
authors.forename: M L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Hansmann
mesh_terms: D002469:Cell Separation; D002999:Clone Cells; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D005784:Gene Amplification / Q000276:immunology; D015329:Gene Rearrangement, T-Lymphocyte; D006801:Humans; D017728:Lymphoma, Large-Cell, Anaplastic / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology* / Q000473:pathology*; D008297:Male; D008846:Micromanipulation; D008875:Middle Aged; D016692:Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell, gamma-delta / Q000235:genetics*; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured
chemical_list: D016692:Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell, gamma-delta