Detection of canine lymphoma by the amplification of antigen receptor gene rearrangements

We performed the PARR (PCR to detect antigen receptor rearrangements) test on DNA isolated from twelve archival canine cytological slides including nine lymphoma, two reactive lymphocytes and one sample from Ehrlichia canis infected dog. As a result, our PCR control gene, Cμ, was successfully amplified from all of the DNA samples. Six out of nine lymphoma samples showed a clonal rearrangement of immunoglobulin gene whereas three samples did a clonal rearrangement of T cell receptor gamma (TCRγ) gene. However, we observed no visible or clear bands from PCR conducted using our antigen receptor rearrangement primers on DNA from a reactive lymphoid cell proliferation used as a negative control. False-positive amplification in TCRγ gene was observed only in one sample from E. canis infection. The use of archival cytological specimens demonstrated in this study offers potential advantages for cost-effective specimen acquisition and efficient high-fidelity DNA analysis.