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American Journal of Pathology, Vol 139, 161-168, Copyright © 1991 by American Society for Investigative Pathology

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Rearrangement of the T-cell receptor delta chain gene in T-cell lymphomas with a mature phenotype

JH van Krieken, L Elwood, RE Andrade, ES Jaffe, J Cossman and LJ Medeiros
Laboratory of Pathology, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD 20892.

The configuration of the T-cell receptor (TCR) delta chain gene was assessed using restriction fragment analysis and the Southern blot technique in 39 T-cell lymphomas with a mature immunophenotype. The TCR delta gene was rearranged in four lymphomas although the gamma/delta TCR was not expressed in two cases studied. The TCR delta gene was the only TCR gene rearranged in two cases. Each lymphoma with TCR delta gene rearrangement had an aberrant T-cell immunophenotype and three cases were of the large cell anaplastic type. The TCR delta gene was deleted in 22 cases and was in the germline configuration in 13 lymphomas. Deletion of the TCR delta gene was characteristic of mycosis fungoides, adult T-cell leukemia/lymphoma (human T cell leukemia- lymphoma virus positive), and Lennert's lymphoma, and was not identified in angiocentric lymphomas. In eight cases with TCR delta deletion, however, a large number of polyclonal (presumably reactive) T cells were present and, in these lymphomas, the authors could not determine if TCR delta gene deletion occurred in the polyclonal T cells, the neoplastic cells, or both cell populations. The authors conclude that the TCR delta gene is usually deleted in mature T-cell lymphomas, as would be expected in alpha/beta TCR T cells. However, TCR delta gene rearrangement is detectable in approximately 10% of cases. Analysis of this locus may be useful diagnostically, as it occasionally may be the only molecular marker of clonality in mature T-cell lymphomas T-cell receptor delta chain gene rearrangement also is found most often in lymphomas of the large cell anaplastic type.