Analysis of immunoglobulin H gene rearrangement by polymerase chain reaction in primary central nervous system lymphoma.

Object: Diagnosing primary central nervous system lymphoma (PCNSL) may be difficult either because of a paucity of tumor cells in the brain biopsy specimens or a failure to demonstrate monoclonality on immunomorphological studies. Monoclonality can also be demonstrated by amplification of the rearranged immunoglobulin H genes by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to the framework region (FR)3 and FR2 complementarity determining region (CDR)-III and CDR-II of these genes. The PCR method is feasible with formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded biopsy material and has proven to be helpful in the diagnosis of non-Hodgkin lymphoma on biopsy samples obtained from various locations in the body.