Abstract
We studied rearrangement of human T cell receptor genes (TCR) of Cβ, Cγ, Vγ and Jγ in 34 cases of adult T cell leukemia/lymphoma (ATLL), consisting of 29 cases with monoclonally integrated HTLV‐I proviral DNA (ATLL‐W) and five without monoclonal integration (ATLL‐O), in comparison with 12 cases of other peripheral T cell lymphomas (non‐ATLL).
All cases of both ATLL and non‐ATLL showed some rearrangement of T cell receptor genes (TCRs) of Cβ. Cγ, Vγ, or Jγ. Rearrangement of TCRβ was found in 28 of 29 cases of ATLL‐W, all cases of ATLL‐O. and eight of 12 cases of non‐ATLL. Rearrangement of TCRγ was observed in 21 of 22 cases of ATLL‐W. and in all cases of ATLL‐O and non‐ATLL. In TCRγ, rearrangement of Cγ was seen in six of 20 cases of ATLL‐W. none of three ATLL‐O cases and three of six cases of non‐ATLL. Vγ rearrangement occurred in 14 of 18 cases of ATLL‐W, one of two cases of ATLL‐O, and three of six cases of non‐ATLL. Rearrangement of Jγ, was found in 16 of 22 cases of ATLL‐W, two of five ATLL‐O cases, and six of seven non‐ATLL cases. Rearrangement was more frequent in ATLL‐W than in ATLL‐O and non‐ATLL. The incidence rate of rearrangement of Vγ families of Vγ1, Vγ2, and Vγ3 was nearly the same in each group, except for deletion of Vγ3, which was often observed in ATLL but was absent in non‐ATLL. These results indicate the usefulness of detection of TCR and HTLV‐I proviral DNA to differentiate ATLL from other T cell malignancies.