The usefulness and limitation of molecular genetical analysis in diagnosing malignant lymphoma.

Abstract

We analyzed 176 cases of lymphoproliferative disorders by molecular genetical approach in conjunction with phenotypical examinations.Tγ/LGL proliferative disorder has been revealed to consist of at least two groups; one is CD3(+), TcR gene rearranged group which is considered as T-cell lineage, the other is CD3(-), TcR gene germ line one which is cosidered as “NK cell” origin.Many AILD cases with some atypic cells (AILD-T) have rearranged TcR genes and are supposed to be related to T-cell lymphoma. Though we examined the gene expression of IL-4, 5 to clarify the clinical features of AILD, we failed to observe distinct participation of IL-4, 5.We frequently observed dual genotype (simultaneous rearralgements of Ig and TcR genes) cases in CD20(+) c-ALL and stage II T-ALL/LBL. It has been supposed that common recombinase and accessibility for it are activated at such specific stages of lymphocyte maturation.In addition, we analyzed precise biallelic IgH gene structure by examining 5'D region of IgH, and observed difference of rearrangement patterns which are specific for diseases or maturational stage.