What's new in the application of Southern blot analysis of malignant lymphomas?

With the introduction of gene probes for the immunoglobulin and T cell receptor gene segments and the use of the Southern Blot Analysis a new method for the diagnostic characterization of malignant lymphomas was established. Although the method is not absolutely specific for the determination of lineage and clonality of a given lymphoid neoplasm, it provides a lot of additional information for the pathologist. It is the first method that gives proof to the clonality of T cell lymphomas; reactive lymph node processes can be distinguished from true neoplasms; within lymph nodes of mixed lymphoid populations the clonally proliferated can be detected and the lineage can be determined. Therefore the Southern Blot Analysis is a method that should be applied for the diagnosis of malignant lymphomas together with histology and immunohistochemistry. Using the combination of all these methods an extensive characterization of lymphoid neoplasms can be made.