Abstract Detection of Clonal Lymphoid Population by IgH Chain Gene Rearrangement Analysis in Malignant Lymphomas at Universiti Sains Malaysia Hospital

Abstract.
The use of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technique in detection of immunoglobulin heavy (IgH) chain gene rearrangement enables clonal populations of lymphoid cells involved in malignant tumor to be detected hence differentiating malignant from reactive proliferation. The aim of this study was to detect clonal lymphoid populations using IgH chain gene rearrangement in cases of Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) observed in Universiti Sains Malaysia Hospital. DNA from 43 fresh-frozen lymph nodes (LN) were extracted from patients suspected of lymphoma and subjected to PCR using specific primers for IgH chain gene rearrangement (V_H/J_H). Final diagnosis showed 21 cases were NHL-B, 2 NHL-T cases, 6 Hodgkin's Disease, 6 reactive hyperplasia, 4 metastatic carcinoma and 4 cases of tuberculosis. Monoclonal populations represented by a specific band at 100-180bp were observed in 18/21 B lineage NHL, 2/2 T lineage NHL and 2/6 Hodgkin's Disease while none was observed in cases of reactive hyperplasia, metastatic carcinoma and tuberculosis. We were able to show that IgH chain gene rearrangement could serve as a specific and sensitive technique in detecting clonal populations especially in B-lineage NHL. Thus, IgH chain gene rearrangement analysis could be a useful adjunct to immunohistochemistry in detection of lineage and clonality in NHL.

Key words: clonality, IgH gene rearrangement, Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, PCR

^*Author for Correspondence.
Mailing address: Department of Medicine, School of Medical Sciences, Health Campus, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 16150 Kubang Kerian, Kelantan, Malaysia.
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