title: Quantitative, real-time polymerase chain reactions for FLT3 internal tandem duplications are highly sensitive and specific.
abstract: Internal tandem duplications (ITDs) of the FLT3 gene occur in approximately 20-30% of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) patients. We investigated if FLT3 ITDs could be used as minimal residual disease (MRD) markers for AML patients. Patient-specific polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assays for FLT3 ITDs were developed for four AML samples that contained FLT3 ITDs of varying size and location. The real-time, quantitative PCR assays for FLT3 ITDs were highly sensitive and specific, detecting between 0.01 and 0.001% of FLT3 ITD positive DNA in a background of 1 microg of normal bone marrow DNA. Our findings suggest that FLT3 ITDs can be used as molecular markers for MRD in patients with AML.
authors.affiliation: Program in Genetics and Genomics, Clinical Research Division, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, D4-100, 1100 Fairview Avenue North, Seattle, WA 98109, USA. dstirewa@fhcrc.org
authors.forename: D L
authors.initials: DL
authors.lastname: Stirewalt
authors.forename: C L
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Willman
authors.forename: J P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Radich
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D015470:Leukemia, Myeloid, Acute / Q000175:diagnosis*; D018365:Neoplasm, Residual; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D020794:Receptor Protein-Tyrosine Kinases / Q000235:genetics*; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D020080:Tandem Repeat Sequences; D051941:fms-Like Tyrosine Kinase 3
chemical_list: D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins; C497970:FLT3 protein, human; D020794:Receptor Protein-Tyrosine Kinases; D051941:fms-Like Tyrosine Kinase 3