title: Frequent detection of BCR-ABL specific mRNA in patients with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) following allogeneic and syngeneic bone marrow transplantation (BMT).
abstract: We performed a two-step polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to detect bcr-abl-specific mRNA in 440 peripheral blood and/or bone marrow samples of 30 chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) patients (mean 15, range 2-50 samples) following non T-cell-depleted allogeneic (n = 28) or syngeneic (n = 2) bone marrow transplantation (BMT). Median follow-up after BMT is 40 months (range 2-116 months), the median observation time 29 months (range 2-40 months). In 15 patients (50%), bcr-abl-specific mRNA could be detected following BMT. Bcr-abl positivity was rare in patients who were in hematological remission for at least 40 months (2/11). In five patients, PCR positivity was observed only once; all five patients are in complete hematological remission. Ten patients showed bcr-abl specific mRNA in two or more consecutive samples. Hematological relapse occurred in five of the latter patients. Bcr-abl positivity preceded hematological relapse in all cases. Bcr-abl positivity was detected more frequently in patients without graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) (11/15), than in patients with GVHD (4/15) (p < 0.02). Our data indicate that transient bcr-abl positivity is not usually followed by hematological relapse, while patients, who are positive in serial samples have a high risk of relapse.
authors.affiliation: First Department of Medicine, University of Vienna, Austria.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gaiger
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Lion
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Kalhs
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Mitterbauer
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Henn
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Haas
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Födinger
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Kier
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Forstinger
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Quehenberger
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D016026:Bone Marrow Transplantation; D005260:Female; D016044:Fusion Proteins, bcr-abl / Q000235:genetics*; D006086:Graft vs Host Disease; D006801:Humans; D015464:Leukemia, Myelogenous, Chronic, BCR-ABL Positive / Q000235:genetics* / Q000628:therapy; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000032:analysis*; D012334:RNA, Neoplasm / Q000032:analysis*; D012008:Recurrence; D014184:Transplantation, Homologous; D014185:Transplantation, Isogeneic
chemical_list: D012333:RNA, Messenger; D012334:RNA, Neoplasm; D016044:Fusion Proteins, bcr-abl