Detection of clonal T-cell receptor gamma gene rearrangements with the use of the polymerase chain reaction in cutaneous lesions of mycosis fungoides and Sezary syndrome

The prognosis of early mycosis fungoides is not influenced by phenotype and T-cell clonality

“…This is the first time that statistical analyses on large numbers of patients with long follow up clearly demonstrates that prognosis is independent of phenotype. These data confirm previous case reports and small studies showing that a cytotoxic phenotype can be observed in early lesions of MF, and that phenotypic variations have no influence on the prognosis of the disease 1,2,4,5,7–13,25–28 . In addition, we show that detection of a clone by standard PCR procedures in early lesions of MF is not associated with a worse prognosis.…”

T‐cell receptor‐γ gene analysis in evolving to advancing cutaneous T‐cell lymphoma

“…Comparison of our PCR positivity rates with previously published studies showed an agreement in the findings: 50–78% clonality for patch‐stage MF (present study 62.1%); 50–100% clonality for plaque‐stage MF (present study 85.7%); 50–70% clonality for prediagnostic inflammatory dermatoses suggestive of MF (present study 50%); and 16–73% clonality for prediagnostic inflammatory dermatoses non‐specific for MF (present study 25%) 9,12,14–17 . The wide variation in sensitivity rates of published data is no doubt related to diagnostic criteria used for the histological diagnosis of MF and the sensitivity of the PCR technique.…”

The significance of multiplex PCR/heteroduplex analysis‐based TCR‐γ gene rearrangement combined with laser‐capture microdissection in the diagnosis of early mycosis fungoides

“…In our analysis, 19 clonality was showed in 71.4% of cases in plaque stage and in 100% of cases in tumor stage by using conventional phenol‐chloroform DNA extraction and multiple PCR/heteroduplex analysis. The percentages obtained in our study were within the range reported by others 10–12,30,31 . TCR ‐γ clonal rearrangements were not detected in two cases of plaque MF (patients 1 and 7 in the typical MF group).…”