| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||
|
MJ Dyer
Department of Haematology, University of Cambridge, England.
Rearrangements within the T-cell receptor (TCR)delta/alpha locus were
analyzed in a wide variety of lymphoid neoplasms by eight DNA probes
specific for TCR J delta, J alpha and C alpha segments. In all 11 T- cell
malignancies, rearrangement and/or deletion of TCR delta was detected
irrespective of the stage of maturation of the tumor. The organization of
TCR delta correlated with the phenotype of the tumor: In "prethymic" T-cell
acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL), TCR delta was the only TCR gene to be
rearranged. More mature T cell malignancies expressing CD4 together with
CD3 showed deletion of both alleles of TCR delta, suggestive of TCR V
alpha-J alpha rearrangement. All 43 B-cell tumors expressing surface
immunoglobulin (sIg), including two cases of adult B-cell ALL, had germline
configuration of TCR delta/alpha. In contrast, all 17 B-cell precursor ALLs
(null, common, and pre-B-cell ALLs) had rearrangement and/or deletion of
TCR delta/alpha. A single case of "histiocytic" lymphoma also showed
biallelic deletion of TCR delta. Oligoclonal rearrangements of Ig and TCR
genes were observed in two cases of B-cell precursor ALL and in one case of
T-cell lymphoblastic lymphoma. Patterns of such "aberrant" TCR
rearrangement were similar to those observed in T-lineage malignancies. In
particular, seven of eight cases of B-cell precursor ALL and the
histiocytic lymphoma which demonstrated biallelic TCR delta deletion,
(suggestive of a V alpha-J alpha rearrangement) had clonal TCR beta
rearrangement. These data support the hypothesis that supposedly aberrant
rearrangements of the TCR genes may follow the same developmental controls
as found in T-cell differentiation, despite the lack of evidence for
further commitment to the T-cell lineage. TCR delta rearrangement is a
useful marker of clonality of immature T-cell tumors which may have only
this gene rearranged but is not specific to the T-cell lineage.
This article has been cited by other articles:
| |||||||||||
| Copyright © 1989 by American Society of Hematology Online ISSN: 1528-0020 | |||||||||