title: Quantitative PCR detection of NPM/ALK fusion gene and CD30 gene expression in patients with anaplastic large cell lymphoma--residual disease monitoring and a correlation with the disease status.
abstract: Anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALCL) represents a heterogeneous group of malignant lymphoproliferative diseases with a consistent expression of the cytokine receptor CD30. ALCL is frequently associated with a NPM/ALK fusion gene which is found in up to 75% of pediatric ALCLs. Real-time quantitative RT-PCR (RQ-RT-PCR) of NPM/ALK and CD30 gene expression was employed to analyze minimal residual disease (MRD) in 10 patients with NPM/ALK positive ALCL in 79 follow-up bone marrow (BM) and/or peripheral blood (PB) samples. In all BM samples from relapses and/or closely before a relapse, BM samples revealed NPM/ALK and CD30 positivity in at least one of the iliac BM trephines. Five out of nine relapses were preceded or were accompanied by minimally half log increased NPM/ALK levels in the BM. We found that RQ-RT-PCR of the CD30 expression is not suitable for MRD detection--only two relapses were accompanied by an increase of the CD30 level above a level which was detected in BM/PB samples from healthy individuals. RQ-RT-PCR of NPM/ALK expression is a promising and rapid approach for monitoring MRD.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology and Molecular Medicine, 2nd Faculty of Medicine Charles University in Prague, V Uvalu 84, 150 06 Prague 5, Czech Republic. marketa.kalinova@lfmotol.cuni.cz
authors.forename: Marketa
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kalinova
authors.forename: Lenka
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Krskova
authors.forename: Helena
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Brizova
authors.forename: Edita
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Kabickova
authors.forename: Tomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kepak
authors.forename: Roman
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kodet
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D015870:Gene Expression; D006801:Humans; D017730:Ki-1 Antigen / Q000235:genetics*; D017728:Lymphoma, Large-Cell, Anaplastic / Q000235:genetics*; D008297:Male; D018365:Neoplasm, Residual / Q000235:genetics*; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D011505:Protein-Tyrosine Kinases / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction
chemical_list: D017730:Ki-1 Antigen; C107023:p80(NPM-ALK) protein; D011505:Protein-Tyrosine Kinases