This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Purchase Article View Shopping Cart Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Lin, C.-W. Articles by Hsu, S.-M. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Lin, C.-W. Articles by Hsu, S.-M.

(American Journal of Pathology. 2001;159:1671-1679.)
© 2001 American Society for Investigative Pathology

Regular Articles

Restricted Killer Cell Immunoglobulin-Like Receptor Repertoire without T-Cell Receptor Rearrangement Supports a True Natural Killer-Cell Lineage in a Subset of Sinonasal Lymphomas

From the Department of Pathology, National Taiwan University Hospital, National Taiwan University College of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan

The cellular lineage of sinonasal T/NK (natural killer) cell lymphoma remains controversial. Lineage assignment is difficult because T cells and NK cells have a similar morphology and surface markers. Consequently, the assignment must depend heavily on the status of T-cell receptor (TCR) rearrangement. A monoclonal TCR rearrangement supports a T lineage; however, a corresponding monoclonality test for NK cells has not yet been established. Each NK cell bears a distinct set of killer cell immunoglobulin (Ig)-like receptors (KIRs) that are randomly distributed over three groups. In principle, restriction of the KIR repertoire signifies a monoclonal or possibly oligoclonal NK-cell proliferation, just as Ig light-chain restriction usually indicates a monoclonal B-cell neoplasm. Using a novel group-specific reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction, we found a restricted KIR repertoire in most sinonasal lymphomas (9 of 10), but only rarely in T-cell lymphomas (2 of 10) or reactive conditions involving T/NK cells (1 of 10). KIR+ sinonasal lymphomas usually lacked a monoclonal TCR- rearrangement pattern, expressed another NK cell receptor, NKG2a, and were usually CD56-positve, cyclin-dependent kinase-6 (CDK6)-positive, CD44-negative, a phenotype already reported to indicate a true NK cell lineage. We conclude that, although sinonasal lymphomas have heterogeneous genotypes and phenotypes, a restricted KIR repertoire without TCR- rearrangement provides preliminary support for the monoclonality hypothesis and can be used for defining a true NK-cell lineage in a subset of sinonasal lymphomas.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				C.-W. Lin, T.-Y. Liu, S.-U. Chen, K.-T. Wang, L. J. Medeiros, and S.-M. Hsu CD94 1A transcripts characterize lymphoblastic lymphoma/leukemia of immature natural killer cell origin with distinct clinical features Blood, November 15, 2005; 106(10): 3567 - 3574. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				CD56+ Lymphoma With Skin Involvement: Clinicopathologic Features and Classification Arch Dermatol, April 1, 2004; 140(4): 427 - 436.

				C.-W. Lin, Y.-H. Chen, Y.-C. Chuang, T.-Y. Liu, and S.-M. Hsu CD94 transcripts imply a better prognosis in nasal-type extranodal NK/T-cell lymphoma Blood, October 1, 2003; 102(7): 2623 - 2631. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]