[Gene analysis in human hematopoietic malignancies]

We analyzed the T-cell receptors and immunoglobulin genes in 140 cases of hematopoietic malignancies, including ALL/LBL, malignant lymphomas, AILDs, Hodgkin's disease, ATL and CLL. In many cases, the findings obtained by immunoassociated gene analysis were in parallel to the phenotypic findings. Gene analysis is useful to determine the clonality and the lineage of malignant cells. However, 10-30% cases appeared bigenotype. In some cases, oligoclonalities were recognized. The relationship to the prognosis in these cases was discussed. The development of gamma delta- and alpha beta-cells on T-cell ontogeny was elucidated. Some T-cell leukemic lines were found to be pre-alpha beta T-cells with some consensus characteristics. We also analyzed the V beta family of 15 alpha beta T-cell leukemia cell lines using six V beta cDNA probes. This approach may be useful to determine the clonality of T-cell malignancies. The method of using a PCR system on immunoassociated genes has been described. The PCR method, using the super variable region as a tumor specific fragment, is valuable in the detection of the residual cells of lymphoma and leukemia at a concentration of 1/10(5) cells.