Frequency and Prognostic Significance of Clonal T-Cell Receptor ß-Gene Rearrangements in the Peripheral Blood of Patients With Mycosis Fungoides

Abstract

The results of this study indicate that clonal TCR beta-gene rearrangements, as detected by Southern blot analysis, are uncommon in the peripheral blood of patients with MF, in particular in patients without histologically documented lymph node involvement. The presence of clonal T-cell populations in the peripheral blood of MF patients with lymph node involvement is usually associated with rapidly fatal disease.