Detection of Philadelphia chromosome-positive cells by the polymerase chain reaction following bone marrow transplant for chronic myelogenous leukemia.
Sixteen patients treated by allogeneic bone marrow transplantation (BMT) for chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) were evaluated by the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for bcr/abl-specific RNA transcripts at various time points after BMT. In reconstitution experiments, one CML cell per million normal mononuclear cells could be detected by direct agarose gel visualization of a bcr/abl-specific band following PCR. Bcr/abl message was found in ten out of 16 patients post-BMT. PCR-positive bcr/abl was present only transiently in three patients and correlated with relapse in three. One patient died in clinical remission, while two patients remain in remission despite persistence of bcr/abl-positive abl-positive cells at 180 days. Long-term follow-up of bcr/abl-positive patients in clinical remission may provide insight into the fate or residual Ph+ cells after BMT. This approach may aid in the identification of high-risk patients likely to relapse post-BMT.
Roth
M S
MS
Department of Medicine, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor.
Antin
J H
JH
Bingham
E L
EL
Ginsburg
D
D
D001483:Base Sequence; D016026:Bone Marrow Transplantation; D004259:DNA-Directed DNA Polymerase; D005784:Gene Amplification; D015321:Gene Rearrangement; D006801:Humans; D015464:Leukemia, Myelogenous, Chronic, BCR-ABL Positive / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D015345:Oligonucleotide Probes; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000473:pathology; D011519:Proto-Oncogenes; D019914:Taq Polymerase; D014158:Transcription, Genetic
D015345:Oligonucleotide Probes; D019914:Taq Polymerase; D004259:DNA-Directed DNA Polymerase