title: Comparison of BIOMED-2 versus laboratory-developed polymerase chain reaction assays for detecting T-cell receptor-gamma gene rearrangements.
abstract: Detecting clonal T-cell receptor (TCR)-gamma gene rearrangements (GRs) is an important adjunct test for diagnosing T-cell lymphoma. We compared a recently described assay (BIOMED-2 protocol), which targets multiple variable (V) gene segments in two polymerase chain reaction (PCR) reactions (multi-V), with a frequently referenced assay that targets a single V gene segment in four separate PCR reactions (mono-V). A total of 144 consecutive clinical DNA samples were prospectively tested for T-cell clonality by PCR using laboratory-developed mono-V and commercial multi-V primer sets for TCR-gamma GR. The combination of TCR-beta, mono-V TCR-gamma and multi-V TCR-gamma detected more clonal cases (68/144, 47%) than any individual PCR assay. We detected clonal TCR-beta GR in 47/68 (69%) cases. Using either mono-V or multi-V TCR-gamma primers, the sensitivities for detecting clonality were 52/68 (76%) or 51/68 (75%). Using both mono-V and multi-V TCR-gamma primers improved the sensitivity for detecting clonality, 60/68 (88%). Combining either mono-V or multi-V TCR-gamma primers with TCR-beta primers also improved the sensitivity, 64/68 (94%). Significantly, TCR-gamma V11 GRs could only be detected using the mono-V-PCR primers. We conclude that using more than one T-cell PCR assay can enhance the overall sensitivity for detecting T-cell clonality.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Albert Einstein College of Medicine/Montefiore Medical Center, 111 E. 210th Street, Bronx, NY 10467, USA.
authors.forename: Keyur P
authors.initials: KP
authors.lastname: Patel
authors.forename: Qiulu
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Pan
authors.forename: Yanhua
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Robert W
authors.initials: RW
authors.lastname: Maitta
authors.forename: Juan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Du
authors.forename: Xiaonan
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Xue
authors.forename: Juan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: Howard
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ratech
mesh_terms: D001483:Base Sequence; D004252:DNA Mutational Analysis / Q000379:methods*; D017931:DNA Primers / Q000235:genetics; D015329:Gene Rearrangement, T-Lymphocyte / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D007143:Immunoglobulin Heavy Chains / Q000235:genetics; D016399:Lymphoma, T-Cell / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods*; D011446:Prospective Studies; D016692:Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell, gamma-delta / Q000032:analysis / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D017931:DNA Primers; D007143:Immunoglobulin Heavy Chains; D016692:Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell, gamma-delta