Rearrangement of the Gene for the Beta Chain of the T-Cell Receptor in T-Cell Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia and Related Disorders

Abstract

FOR more than a decade it has been possible to establish the monoclonal character of B-cell lymphomas by the predominance of one immunoglobulin light chain (kappa or lambda) on the cell surface.1,2 More recently, monoclonal B-cell populations have also been identified by the presence of immunoglobulin-gene rearrangements.345 Unfortunately, there has been no comparable cell-surface characteristic by which to identify a monoclonal proliferation of T-cell lineage. However, with the cloning of the genes for the beta chain of the T-cell receptor,6,7 it has become possible to apply the techniques of molecular genetics to malignant proliferations of T cells. In this study. © 1985, Massachusetts Medical Society. All rights reserved.