title: Determination of the donor:host blood cell ratio after haematological stem cell transplant by means of semiquantitative detection of short tandem repeat polymorphisms.
abstract: An improved method of quantifying the donor:host blood cell ratio after haematological stem cell transplantation (PBSCT) using a variable number of tandem repeat (VNTR) markers is presented. The post-transplant DNA is extracted from the patient's blood and amplified by semiquantitative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) without prior mock transplant and plotting of a standard curve. The amplification products are then analysed by ABI PRISM 310 capillary electrophoresis apparatus. The resultant peak areas are correlated with the corresponding microsatellite allele by GeneScan software and the donor:host cell ratio is calculated. Improvements to PCR amplification conditions are essential for the outcome of the quantification since preferential amplification of alleles in the PCR process can account for the marked deviation found between the results gained by measurement of different microsatellite loci. To assess the accuracy of the method, the post-transplant blood samples of 6 patients who had undergone either myeloablative or non-myeloablative transplantation regimens were analysed retrospectively (median observation time 298 days). By analysing 3 or 4 microsatellite loci we were able to detect full engraftment or mixed chimaerism after transplant with a measurement precision of < or = 4.5 (standard deviation). Sensitivity for different primers ranges from 2% to 5%. The results of the microsatellite analysis correlated well with the corresponding clinical findings. We conclude that post-transplant analysis of microsatellite loci using semiquantitative PCR without standard is suitable for clinical purposes.
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D018895:Microsatellite Repeats; D018598:Minisatellite Repeats; D036102:Peripheral Blood Stem Cell Transplantation; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic; D020080:Tandem Repeat Sequences; D014019:Tissue Donors