T cell receptor V beta 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 V beta 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 V beta 20 gene by PCR with 20 different V beta 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 V beta usage, the relationships of this repertoire and lymphoma cells seems to be of some consequence.