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. 1994 Jul;39(4):275–278. doi: 10.1007/BF01525992

Different pattern of T cell receptor δ gene rearrangement in tumour-infiltrating lymphocytes and peripheral blood in patients with solid tumours

Driusz Kowalczyk 1, Witold Skorupski 2, Michal Drews 3, Jerzy Nowak 1,✉
PMCID: PMC11038583  PMID: 7954530

Abstract

Tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL) and peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBL) from four patients with renal-cell carcinoma (three paired with blood), two colon carcinomas (both paired with blood) and two melanomas (blood was not available) were analysed for the T cell receptor (TCR) δ gene repertoire. Polymerase chain reaction analysis, employing a panel of specific primers for TCR δ gene segments, showed different gene rearrangement patterns in TIL and PBL in all patients. Simultaneous analysis of TIL and PBL revealed the presence of lymphoid cells in the tumour tissue that were not present in the periphery. These results demonstrate that, although tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes contain γ/δ T cells within the range observed in peripheral blood, these cells differ from those in peripheral blood in their gene repertoire and this may account for selective accumulation or/and in situ amplification of γ/δ lymphocytes at the tumour site, indicating a unique type of host reaction against tumors.

Key words: γ/δ T cells, Tumour-infiltrating lymphocytes, Renal-cell carcinoma, Colon carcinoma, Malignant melanoma

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