title: Clonality assessment of lymphoproliferative lesions using the polymerase chain reaction: an analysis of two methods.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Lymphoid malignancies are a heterogeneous group of disorders which may be difficult to differentiate from reactive proliferations even after immunohistochemistry. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is believed to be a good adjunct tool for diagnosis.
  
  
  METHODS
  We examined 24 cases of neoplastic and non-neoplastic lymphoproliferative lesions in this study and evaluated the PCR as an additional tool in the confirmation of the diagnosis. Two different PCR methodologies were evaluated.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In the evaluation of the T-cell PCR, it was seen that the correlation using both the commercial kits and the custom-synthesized primers was highly significant at a P value of <0.05. In the evaluation of the B-cell PCR, it was seen that the correlation using both the commercial kits and the custom-synthesized primers was not significant using either method (P > 0.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Both the methods showed an excellent concordance for T-cell γ gene rearrangements, However, the same was not seen in the B-cell receptor rearrangements. This may be because of the small sample size or the inability of consensus V primers to recognize complementary DNA sequences in all of the V segments.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Armed Forces Medical College, Pune, India. nikhilmoorchung@rediffmail.com
authors.forename: Nikhil
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Moorchung
authors.forename: R B
authors.initials: RB
authors.lastname: Batra
authors.forename: N S
authors.initials: NS
authors.lastname: Mani
authors.forename: S S
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Gill
mesh_terms: D002999:Clone Cells; D017931:DNA Primers / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D008232:Lymphoproliferative Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000235:genetics / Q000473:pathology*; D057089:Pathology, Molecular / Q000379:methods*; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods*; D011933:Reagent Kits, Diagnostic; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000166:cytology
chemical_list: D017931:DNA Primers; D011933:Reagent Kits, Diagnostic