Introduction: Flow cytometric panels for the investigation of lymphoproliferative disorders, such as the EuroFlow Lymphoid Screening Tube (LST), often fail to demonstrate T-cell clonality, as a suitable clonality marker was unavailable until recently. Aim of this study was to evaluate the added value of supplementing TRBC1, a flow cytometric T-cell clonality marker, to the LST.
Methods: Flow cytometric analysis was performed on 830 routine samples referred to our lab for suspicion of hematological malignancy. T-cells with monotypic TRBC1-expression were additionally characterized with a 12-color T-cell tube and molecular T-cell receptor gamma gene rearrangement (TRG).
Results: LST analysis revealed 97 (11.7%) samples with the presence of a monotypic T-cell population according to TRBC1, including 21 (2.5%) "high-count" (≥500 cells/μL blood or ≥15% of lymphocytes) and 76 (9.2%) "low-count" (<500 cells/μL blood or <15% of lymphocytes) populations. Clinical symptoms indicative for T-CLPD could be correlated to 11/21 "high-count" and 17/76 "low-count" monotypic T-cell populations. Molecular TRG analysis demonstrated a monoclonal result in 76% (16/21) of "high-count" samples and in 64% (42/66; 10 samples not tested) of "low-count" samples, but also in 9/20 samples with polytypic TRBC1 results.
Conclusion: Analysis of an LST tube supplemented with TRBC1 led to the detection of a high number of monotypic T-cell populations. The detection of numerous small monotypic T-cell populations raises the question of their clinical significance. A possible flowchart for assessment of these populations, based on the available literature, is proposed. Molecular TRG analysis is complementary and cannot be omitted from T-cell clonality assessment.
Keywords: T-CUS; TRBC1; chronic T-cell lymphoproliferative diseases; flow cytometry.
© 2023 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.