OBJECTIVETo evaluate the significance of immunoglobulin heavy chain (IgH) gene rearrangement for B-cell lymphoma and T-cell receptor (TCR) gene rearrangement for T-cell lymphoma and NK/T-cell lymphoma in diagnosing and typing of primary non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) in nasal cavity.

METHODSSemi-nested polymerase chain reaction ( PCR) with two pairs of primers was used to detect monoclonal IgH gene rearrangement in paraffin-embedded tissues from 11 patients with B-cell lymphoma, and one-stepped PCR with two pairs of primers was used to detect T-cell receptor gene rearrangement from 23 patients with NK/T-cell lymphoma and 20 patients with T-cell lymphoma. Ten patients with nasal polyp were detected with all the primers by PCR respectively.

RESULTSAmong the 54 patients with an evaluable PCR results, 10 of 11 (90. 9% ) B-cell lymphomas were positive for monoclonal IgH gene rearrangement, 17 of 20 (85. 0% ) T-cell lymphomas and 10 of 23 (43. 5% ) NK/T-cell lymphomas were positive for monoclonal TCR gene rearrangement. Ten patients with nasal polyp were negative for all detection.

CONCLUSIONSDetecting gene rearrangement was an efficient method in auxiliary diagnosing and typing of primary NHL in nasal cavity; Using semi-nested PCR or one-stepped PCR with two pairs of primers can enhance the positive rate of gene rearrangement detection.