PCR-monitoring of minimal residual leukaemia after conventional chemotherapy and bone marrow transplantation in BCR-ABL-positive acute lymphoblastic leukaemia.
We report the results of consecutive tests in nine BCR-ABL-positive ALL patients by one-step and two-step (nested primer) reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Six patients could be tested in complete haematological remission (CHR). One patient remained one-step positive; four patients became one-step negative, but remained two-step positive; only one patient became two-step negative. In five patients the haematological relapse was preceded by one-step positivity by 1.5-5 weeks. In two patients who received autologous BMT in CHR, BCR-ABL was still detectable by two-step PCR, whereas allogeneic BMT was able to transiently reduce BCR-ABL below the two-step detection level. Our results show that one-step combined with two-step RT-PCR analysis gives valuable information about the efficacy of treatment and the dynamics of the leukaemic clone.
Mitterbauer
G
G
Clinical Institute for Medical and Chemical Laboratory Diagnostics, University of Vienna, Austria.
Födinger
M
M
Scherrer
R
R
Knöbl
P
P
Jäger
U
U
Laczika
K
K
Schwarzinger
I
I
Gaiger
A
A
Geissler
K
K
Greinix
H
H
D000328:Adult; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D016026:Bone Marrow Transplantation; D016044:Fusion Proteins, bcr-abl / Q000032:analysis; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D018365:Neoplasm, Residual / Q000175:diagnosis*; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D054198:Precursor Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000628:therapy*
D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D016044:Fusion Proteins, bcr-abl