CLINICAL UTILITY OF HETERODUPLEX ANALYSIS OF TCR GAMMA-GENE REARRANGEMENTS IN THE DIAGNOSIS OF T-CELL LYMPHOPROLIFERATIVE DISORDERS

We conducted this study to assess the clinical utility of heteroduplex analysis of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) products for Ty gene rear rangements in the diagnosis of T-cell lymphoproliferative disorders (L FDs) using a single set of consensus primers. This method was used to study 103 cases using fresh or frozen tissue. These included 62 cases of T-cell LPDs, 25 cases of B-cell LPDs, 3 cases of anaplastic large c ell lymphomas of undefined lineage, and 13 cases of reactive disorders . The latter group served as the negative control group. For all cases of T-cell LPDs, the results of TP Southern analysis (SA) and heterodu plex PCR analysis were compared. We also studied 10 cases of postthymi c T-cell lymphoma using paraffin-embedded tissue. Heteroduplex Ty PCR was positive in 51 (89%) of 57 cases that were rearranged by TP SA. Ei ght of the 10 cases of T-cell lymphoma analyzed using paraffin-embedde d tissue were positive. There were no false-positive results. These re sults demonstrate that this method is an effective screening test in t he clinical laboratory. A positive result obviates the need to perform SA. Preliminary results suggest this method is useful using paraffin- embedded tissue.