Fast molecular diagnostics of canine T-cell lymphoma by PCR and capillary gel electrophoresis with laser-induced fluorescence detector

Lymphoma is the most common hematopoietic tumor in dogs and manifests as a proliferation of malignant lymphoid cells primarily affecting the lymph nodes or solid visceral organs. We describe the use of capillary gel electrophoresis (CGE) with a laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) detector based on polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to rapidly detect a disorder of the canine T-cell receptor γ (TCRγ) gene. After the PCR amplification of the specific TCR( gene in dogs, the 90-bp DNA fragment amplified was separated in a fused-silica capillary by CGE–LIF. Under an electric field of 375 V/cm and with a sieving matrix of 1.5% poly (ethyleneoxide) (Mr 600,000), the amplified PCR products were analyzed within 4 min by CGE separation. When the CGE–LIF method was applied to real clinical samples of the specific DNA fragment of the TCR( gene, the migration time and the corrected peak area showed relative standard deviations (n = 5) of 0.29% and 0.58%, respectively. Both methods of CGE–LIF and slab gel electrophoresis showed same results for nine clinical samples. This PCR/CGE–LIF technique may prove to be a new fast and simple tool for the rapid diagnosis of the PCR-amplified DNA of canine T-cell lymphoma.