title: Detection of minimal residual disease (MRD) after bone marrow transplantation (BMT) by multi-parameter flow cytometry (MPFC).
abstract: Multi-parameter flow cytometry (MPFC) was used to detect minimal residual disease (MRD) following bone marrow transplantation (BMT) in 21 patients. Bone marrow (BM)was analyzed pre-transplant and 3-4 months post-BMT while the patients were in clinical and morphological remission. MRD was detected by identifying cells with aberrant antigen expression and/or leukemia-associated phenotype (LAP) using MPFC. Prior to BMT, 8 out of 21 patients exhibited normal antigen expression based on normal BM samples while 13 BM aspirates had abnormal MPFC. Pre-BMT MPFC was abnormal in all 10 patients who were not in complete remission (CR) (>5% blasts in BM) as well as 3 patients acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) who were in CR. In BM from ALL patients, an abnormal uniform B cell population was observed however antigen expression patterns varied greatly between patients. BM from acute myeloblastic leukemia (AML) patients showed an abnormal distribution of CD34+ cells. In addition, a correlation was observed between pre-BMT cytogenetics and MPFC. Only 2 out of 8 (25%) patients with normal MPFC pre-autologous bone marrow transplantation (ABMT) relapsed (AML), while 6 out of 13 (46%) patients with abnormal pre-BMT MPFC relapsed including 2 out of 3 patients who were transplanted in clinical CR. Pre-BMT MPFC may thus be an effective tool for detection of MRD by detection of a pre-transplant MPFC abnormality.
authors.affiliation: Bone Marrow Transplantation Department, Hadassah University Hospital, Israel. nagler@hadassah.org.il
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Nagler
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Condiotti
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Rabinowitz
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Schlesinger
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nguyen
authors.forename: L W
authors.initials: LW
authors.lastname: Terstappen
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D015703:Antigens, CD / Q000032:analysis*; D000951:Antigens, Neoplasm / Q000032:analysis*; D001854:Bone Marrow Cells / Q000276:immunology*; D016026:Bone Marrow Transplantation; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D005434:Flow Cytometry / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D007938:Leukemia / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000628:therapy; D015470:Leukemia, Myeloid, Acute / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000628:therapy; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D018365:Neoplasm, Residual / Q000175:diagnosis*; D054198:Precursor Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000628:therapy
chemical_list: D015703:Antigens, CD; D000951:Antigens, Neoplasm