title: Estimating the relapse stage in chronic myeloid leukaemia patients after allogeneic stem cell transplantation by the amount of BCR-ABL fusion transcripts detected using a new real-time polymerase chain reaction method.
abstract: We have used a new single-step real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) method to quantify BCR-ABL transcripts, thereby estimating the relapse stage in chronic myeloid leukaemia patients after allogeneic transplants. In 402 samples from 172 patients, BCR-ABL expression was determined and normalized, using the GAPDH housekeeping gene product as an endogenous reference. In our real-time RT-PCR assay, serial dilutions of RNA of the K562 cell line remained positive down to 7.5 pg. The median normalized BCR-ABL amount differed significantly (P < 0.001) between the various disease stages and was 0.06% (range 0.001-1.55%), 3.2% (range 1.4-5.6%) and 21.5% (range 6.8 -827%) in 17 patients with a molecular relapse, in eight patients with a cytogenetic relapse and in 10 patients with a haematological relapse respectively.
authors.affiliation: Department of Bone Marrow Transplantation and Internal Medicine (Cancer Research), University Hospital of Essen, Essen, Germany. ahmet.elmaagacli@uni-essen.de
authors.forename: A H
authors.initials: AH
authors.lastname: Elmaagacli
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Freist
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hahn
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Opalka
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Seeber
authors.forename: U W
authors.initials: UW
authors.lastname: Schaefer
authors.forename: D W
authors.initials: DW
authors.lastname: Beelen
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D020732:Cytogenetic Analysis; D005260:Female; D016044:Fusion Proteins, bcr-abl / Q000235:genetics*; D018380:Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation; D006801:Humans; D017404:In Situ Hybridization, Fluorescence; D015464:Leukemia, Myelogenous, Chronic, BCR-ABL Positive / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000601:surgery*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods; D012008:Recurrence; D014184:Transplantation, Homologous
chemical_list: D016044:Fusion Proteins, bcr-abl