[Use of polymerase chain reaction for determining T-cell clonality]

To distinguish T-cell lymphomas and reactive T-cell proliferation it is important to confirm the ability of T-cells to be cloned. Conventional histological and immunophenotypic methods fail to determine the ability of T-cells to be cloned. An experience in the use of detection of T-cell receptor gene gamma-chain (TCRy) rearrangement for determining T-cellular clonality is described.

Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and single strand conformational polymorphism (SSCP) were used to determine T-cell clonality. Twenty healthy donors, 28 patients with T-lymphomas, and 26 patients with various non-T-cell lymphoproliferative disorders or reactive processes were studied.

T-cell monoclonality was detected in 23/28 (82%) T-cell lymphoma cases, whereas in all the samples from normal subjects a polyclonal pattern of rearrangements TCRy was found. The sensitivity of the method was estimated as 2.5%, 7%, and 10% was demonstrated for bone marrow, spleen, and peripheral blood, respectively.

PCR-SSCP for TCRy was found to be a useful supplement to routine histological and immunophenotypic methods in the diagnosis of T-cell lymphomas.