THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN NON-HODGKIN'S LYMPHOMA AND THE GENE REARRANGEMENT

Objective: To investigate the pattern of clonal rearrangement of immunoglobulin heavy chain gene (IGH) and T cell receptor γ gene (TCRγ) of Non Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) Methods: Bone marrow smears of 211 patients of NHL were detected by PCR, the rearranged IGH and TCRγ gene was amplified using oligonucleotide primers Results: The clonal rearrangement of IGH gene was detectable in 51 2% (108/211); the clonal rearrangement of TCRγ gene was detectable in 21 3% (45/211); both IGH and TCRγ was detectable in 5 7% (12/211); no clonal rearrangement in 21 8% (46/211) And compared clonal gene rearrangement with pathological type and primary site of tumor Ten patients of NHL were investigated serially 5/10 patients still had clonal gene rearrangement at clinical complete remission Conclusion: It demonstrated that this assay may be useful in monitoring the minimal residual disease (MRD) and in evaluating effectiveness of therapy