Experience in the use of polymerase chain reaction for determining T-cell clonality

Aim. 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 deter-cells to be cloned. An experience in the use of. detection of T-cell receptor gene mine the ability of T gamma-chain (TCRy) rearrangement for determining T-cellular clonality is described. Material and methods. 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. Results. T-cell monoclonality was detected in 23128 (8276) 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. Conclusion. PCR-SSCP for TCRy was found to be a useful supplement to routine histological and immunophenotypic methods in the diagnosis of T-cell lymphomas.