title: Quantification of BCR-ABL mRNA in plasma/serum of patients with chronic myelogenous leukemia.
abstract: Quantification of tumor-associated mRNA extracted from blood cells/tissues containing tumor cells is used for evaluation of treatment efficacy or residual tumor cell burden in tumors including leukemia. However, this method using tumor cell-containing blood/tissue is difficult to evaluate the whole tumor cell burden in the body. In order to establish an efficient method to evaluate the whole tumor cell burden in the body, we tried to quantify tumor-associated mRNA existing in plasma/serum instead of leukemia cell-containing blood cells in patients with chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) and compared the levels of BCR-ABL mRNA between plasma/serum and peripheral blood cells. mRNA of BCR-ABL, WT1 or GAPDH (control molecule) was detected by real-time RT-PCR using RNA extracted from plasma/serum of almost all the patients with CML. Copy numbers of BCR-ABL mRNA were significantly correlated between plasma/serum and peripheral blood cells. However, levels of BCR-ABL mRNA extracted from serum were low compared with those extracted with peripheral blood cells. The present findings suggest that although real-time RT-PCR of mRNA existing in plasma/serum could be used for evaluating the whole tumor cell burden in the body, it's required to establish an efficient method to quantify plasma/serum mRNA by nature without degrading during the procedure.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Hematology and Oncology, Graduate School of Health Sciences, Niigata University, Asahimachi-dori, Chuo-ku, Japan. naritami@clg.niigata-u.ac.jp
authors.forename: Miwako
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Narita
authors.forename: Anri
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Saito
authors.forename: Aya
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kojima
authors.forename: Minami
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Iwabuchi
authors.forename: Naoya
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Satoh
authors.forename: Takayoshi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Uchiyama
authors.forename: Akie
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Yamahira
authors.forename: Tatsuo
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Furukawa
authors.forename: Hirohito
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Sone
authors.forename: Masuhiro
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Takahashi
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D016044:Fusion Proteins, bcr-abl / Q000097:blood*; D005987:Glyceraldehyde-3-Phosphate Dehydrogenases / Q000097:blood; D006801:Humans; D015464:Leukemia, Myelogenous, Chronic, BCR-ABL Positive / Q000097:blood*; D008297:Male; D010949:Plasma / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000097:blood*; D044967:Serum / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism; D025721:WT1 Proteins / Q000097:blood
chemical_list: D012333:RNA, Messenger; D025721:WT1 Proteins; D005987:Glyceraldehyde-3-Phosphate Dehydrogenases; D016044:Fusion Proteins, bcr-abl