title: The implication of follicular lymphoma patients receiving allogeneic stem cell transplantation from donors carrying t(14;18)-positive cells.
abstract: We performed real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RQ-PCR) in peripheral blood (PB) and/or bone marrow (BM) samples collected pre- and post transplant from 23 recipient-donor pairs receiving allogeneic stem cell transplantation (allo-SCT) for follicular lymphoma (FL). Of 23 donors, 11 had a PB and/or BM sample positive for t(14;18) (BCL2/IGH fusion) at low levels (<one t(14;18) cell in 10K total cells). Recipients from donors with (n=11) and those without (n=12) detectable t(14:18) cells were similar in age, sex, and disease status pretransplant. No differences in the incidence of graft-versus-host-disease (GVHD), delayed engraftment, relapse rate, disease-free survival and overall survival were identified between the groups. Two recipients without detectable t(14;18) cells pre-transplant showed detectable t(14;18) cells at 2 and 11 years after receiving grafts from donors with t(14:18) cells. Neither patient developed FL 1.5 and 2 years after the emergence of t(14;18) cells. Although the sample size is relatively small, our findings suggest that individuals carrying t(14;18) cells may not be excluded as donors given the lack of an association of t(14;18) detected in donors with adverse clinical outcome. It may be necessary to screen for the donor's t(14;18) status before using t(14;18) for monitoring minimal residual disease by RQ-PCR to exclude the possibility of confounding donor's t(14;18) clone.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, The Methodist Hospital, Baylor College of Medicine, 6565 Fannin Street, Houston, TX 77030, USA.
authors.forename: D K
authors.initials: DK
authors.lastname: McGregor
authors.forename: C A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Keever-Taylor
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Bredeson
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Schur
authors.forename: D H
authors.initials: DH
authors.lastname: Vesole
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Logan
authors.forename: C-C
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Chang
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001854:Bone Marrow Cells / Q000166:cytology; D002883:Chromosomes, Human, Pair 14 / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D002887:Chromosomes, Human, Pair 18 / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D005260:Female; D006086:Graft vs Host Disease; D006801:Humans; D008224:Lymphoma, Follicular / Q000401:mortality / Q000628:therapy*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012008:Recurrence; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D033581:Stem Cell Transplantation / Q000379:methods*; D013997:Time Factors; D014019:Tissue Donors; D014178:Translocation, Genetic; D014184:Transplantation, Homologous / Q000379:methods; D016896:Treatment Outcome