title: Use of minisatellite DNA probes for recognition and characterization of relapse after allogeneic bone marrow transplantation.
abstract: Restriction fragment length polymorphisms can be used to distinguish blood and marrow cells from close relatives. We used two probes that recognize a series of dispersed and highly polymorphic tandem-repetitive minisatellite regions in the human genome that can be detected via a shared 10-15 base pair core sequence similar to the generalized recombination sequence (chi) of E. coli. We have studied the resulting individual-specific DNA fingerprints in 15 patients before and after allogeneic bone marrow transplantation performed for chronic myeloid leukaemia and in two patients transplanted for acute leukaemia. Early engraftment could be demonstrated at 3 weeks post-transplant based on the recognition of cells of donor origin. One patient who failed to engraft had only recipient type marrow cells 3 months post-transplant. Nine patients who relapsed after transplantation had only cells of recipient origin. In one patient who relapsed after transplantation with T-cell depleted donor marrow, fractionation studies showed that his T-cells at relapse were of recipient origin. We conclude that these minisatellite probes are valuable for characterizing the origin of different cell populations after marrow transplantation and could be useful for characterizing relapse when donor and recipient are of the same sex.
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D016026:Bone Marrow Transplantation; D004247:DNA / Q000032:analysis*; D005260:Female; D006085:Graft Survival; D006801:Humans; D007938:Leukemia / Q000628:therapy; D007951:Leukemia, Myeloid / Q000628:therapy; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic; D012150:Polymorphism, Restriction Fragment Length; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D004247:DNA