title: T- and B-cell clonality and frequency of human herpes viruses-6, -8 and Epstein Barr virus in angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma.
abstract: Angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma (T-AIL) is a peripheral T-cell lymphoma of unknown etiology. Previous clonality studies have shown a heterogeneous composition of this disease with varying restrictions of B- and T-cell populations in the tumour. For the first time in a single study and in the same pathological materials, we have analysed, lymphoid cell clonality and occurrence of human herpes viruses and Epstein Barr virus. Of 18 cases 12 (66.6%) had clonal T- and three (16.6%) had clonal B-cells. Presence of the lymphotropic viral genome of HHV6 was detected in four of 18 lymph node biopsies from T-AIL patients (22%), all were TCRgamma clonal. No HHV8 were found. Epstein Barr genome was found in 40% of cases. There was no significant association between T-cell clonality and HHV-6 or EBV infection, or between B-cell clonality and any virus infection. We conclude that T-AIL is a biologically and clinically heterogeneous entity whose true nature remains to be clarified.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Clinical Chemistry, Division of Molecular Diagnostics, Merkur University Hospital, Zagreb, Croatia.
authors.forename: Maruska Marusic
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Vrsalovic
authors.forename: Petra
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Korac
authors.forename: Mara
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Dominis
authors.forename: Slobodanka
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ostojic
authors.forename: Christine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Mannhalter
authors.forename: Rajko
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kusec
mesh_terms: D016175:B-Lymphocyte Subsets / Q000473:pathology*; D002999:Clone Cells / Q000473:pathology; D004273:DNA, Neoplasm / Q000235:genetics; D020031:Epstein-Barr Virus Infections / Q000473:pathology / Q000821:virology; D015326:Gene Rearrangement, B-Lymphocyte, Heavy Chain; D015334:Gene Rearrangement, gamma-Chain T-Cell Antigen Receptor; D005803:Genes, Immunoglobulin; D019675:Genes, T-Cell Receptor gamma; D006566:Herpesviridae Infections / Q000473:pathology* / Q000821:virology; D004854:Herpesvirus 4, Human / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D015654:Herpesvirus 6, Human / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D019288:Herpesvirus 8, Human / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D006801:Humans; D007119:Immunoblastic Lymphadenopathy / Q000473:pathology* / Q000821:virology*; D007143:Immunoglobulin Heavy Chains / Q000235:genetics; D016411:Lymphoma, T-Cell, Peripheral / Q000473:pathology* / Q000821:virology*; D016692:Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell, gamma-delta / Q000235:genetics; D019349:Roseolovirus Infections; D016176:T-Lymphocyte Subsets / Q000473:pathology*; D014412:Tumor Virus Infections / Q000473:pathology* / Q000821:virology
chemical_list: D004273:DNA, Neoplasm; D007143:Immunoglobulin Heavy Chains; D016692:Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell, gamma-delta