Childhood B lineage acute lymphoblastic leukemia clonality study by the polymerase chain reaction.
OBJECTIVE
B cell precursors acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) present rearrangements in the heavy chain immunoglobulin and T cell receptor genes, especially in the complementarity determining region 3 (CDR-3) and T cell receptor delta (TCR delta) (V delta 2 D delta 3) regions. These rearrangements may be amplified by the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and used as clonal markers of B lineage ALL. Our purpose was to study clonality at the DNA level by PCR in B lineage ALL.


METHODS
Fifty-three pediatric patients (36 with B lineage ALL, 7 with ALL-T, and 10 with nonlymphocytic disease) were investigated using consensus primers for the CDR-3 regions of IgH and TCR delta.


RESULTS
Clonality was detected in 86.1% of the patients with B lineage ALL when the primers for the CDR-3 regions were used, in 41.6% when the primers for TCR delta were used, and in 91.6% when the two primers were used together. Biclonality was found in 22.5% and 6.6% of patients that have shown clonality for CDR-3 and TCR delta, respectively. Clonality was not detected in any other samples using these primers.


CONCLUSIONS
PCR using CDR-3 and TCR delta primers can be used as an aid for B lineage ALL diagnosis and clonal evolution of theses disease.
Scrideli
C A
CA
Department of Puericulture and Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine of Ribeirão Preto, University of São Paulo, Brazil.
Simoes
A L
AL
Defavery
R
R
Bernardes
J E
JE
Duarte
M H
MH
Tone
L G
LG
D002051:Burkitt Lymphoma / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002999:Clone Cells; D016384:Consensus Sequence; D017931:DNA Primers; D004273:DNA, Neoplasm / Q000032:analysis / Q000235:genetics; D005260:Female; D005784:Gene Amplification; D015326:Gene Rearrangement, B-Lymphocyte, Heavy Chain; D016694:Gene Rearrangement, delta-Chain T-Cell Antigen Receptor; D006801:Humans; D007143:Immunoglobulin Heavy Chains / Q000235:genetics; D007135:Immunoglobulin Variable Region / Q000235:genetics; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D054198:Precursor Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology*; D016692:Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell, gamma-delta / Q000235:genetics
D017931:DNA Primers; D004273:DNA, Neoplasm; D007143:Immunoglobulin Heavy Chains; D007135:Immunoglobulin Variable Region; D016692:Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell, gamma-delta