Detection and clinical significance of gene rearrangements in diagnosis of lymphomas

    ZHU Shaoª²Jun, LI Yanª²Hong, ZHANG Wei, WANG Xuª²Xia, GONG Li, LI Aiª²Ning, LAN Miao

    Department of Pathology, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Department of Gastroenterology, Tangdu Hospital, Fourth Military Medical University, Xi¬ðan 710038, China

    ¡¾Abstract¡¿ AIM: To establish a way to detect the gene rearrangements of IgH and TCR and to assess the application of the detection technique in the diagnosis of malignant lymphoma. METHODS: Fiftyª²three cases of malignant lymphoma and 20 cases of reactive lymphoid hyperplasia were chosen for making tissue sections. Genomic DNA was extracted, and amplified via PCR. The products were resolved on denaturing polyacrylamide gels and visualized through silver staining. RESULTS: Gene rearrangements of IgH and TCR were negative in 20 cases of reactive lymphoid hyperplasia. In all of 18 cases of T cellª²nonª²Hodgkin¬ðs lymphoma (Tª²NHL), gene rearrangement of TCR ¦Ã was found in 12 cases and that of TCR ¦Â was found in 3 cases, and IgH gene rearrangement was not found. IgH gene rearrangement was found in 28 cases out of 32 cases of B cellª²NHL (Bª²NHL), in 2 cases of which gene rearrangements of TCR ¦Ã and IgH were both found. There was IgH gene rearrangement in 3 cases of suspected lymphomas. There was a remarkable difference between NHL group and benign group in gene rearrangment (P<0.05). CONCLUSION: The detection of gene rearrangements of IgH and TCR by PCR can be a kind of subsidiary means to diagnose the lymphoproliferative disease. Particularly, the clonality showed in the formalinª²fixed and paraffinª²embedded samples may be useful in the retrospective researches. ......