T Cell Receptor Vβ Repertoires of Angioimmunoblastic Lymphadenopathy-like T Cell Lymphoma

To elucidate the pathogenesis of angioimmunoblastic lymphadenopathy-like T cell lymphoma (AILD-T) we investigated the T cell receptor Vβ gene repertoires of four AILD-Ts and compared them with those of other histological types of lymphomas and three cases with reactive disorders. All lymphoma patients had rearrangement bands detected by Southern blot analysis. Only 1 of the 4 cases of AILD-T showed a single predominant usage of Vβ 20 gene by PCR with 20 different Vβ specific primers and the others had repertoires somewhat restricted but similar to reactive lesions. Subsequent sequencing of this PCR product revealed that only 2 of 7 clones were identical. These results suggest the monoclonal malignant cells in AILD-T are scant and that the infiltrating T cells show a reactive pattern. In the only AILD-T case with a single dominant Vβ usage, the relationships of this repertoire and lymphoma cells seems to be of some consequence.