Objective: To analyse the T cell receptor (TCR) gene rearrangement in myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS).
Methods: Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was used to detect the TCRVgammaI-Jgamma gene rearrangement in 36 cases of MDS.
Results: 8 cases (22.2%) were found to have TCRVgammaI-Jgamma gene rearrangement. The TCR gene rearrangement positive rate was higher in RAEB, CMML and RAEBT subtypes than that in RA and RAS subtypes (P < 0.05). The average time MDS evolving to acute leukemia was shorter in the MDS patients with TCRVgammaI-Jgamma for gene rearrangement than that in patients without (P < 0.01).
Conclusion: TCR gamma gene rearrangement can also be found in some MDS patients and the detection of TCRgamma gene rearrangement might be helpful to identify the prognosis and the development of MDS.