title: Mixed donor chimerism in non-malignant haematological diseases after allogeneic bone marrow transplantation.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine the frequency of mixed donor chimerism in patients of non-malignant haematological diseases after allogeneic bone marrow transplant.
  
  
  METHODS
  A cross-sectional, observational study.
  
  
  METHODS
  Department of Haematology, Armed Forces Institute of Pathology (AFIP), Rawalpindi, from July 2010 to June 2011.
  
  
  METHODS
  Donor chimerism was assessed in patients of aplastic anaemia and beta-thalassaemia major who underwent allogeneic bone marrow transplantation (BMT). Peripheral blood samples were used to assess chimerism status by analysis of short tandem repeats (STR). In patients where pre-transplant blood sample was not available, swab of buccal mucosa was used for pre-transplant STR profile. A standard set of primers for STR markers were used and the amplified DNA was resolved by gel electrophoresis and stained with silver nitrate. The percentage of donor origin DNA was estimated by densitometer.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Out of 84 patients, 52 (62%) were males, while 32 (38%) were females. In patients of beta-thalassaemia major, 31 (62%) developed mixed donor chimerism (MC), 13 (26%) developed complete donor chimerism (CC) and 6 (12%) had graft failure. In aplastic anaemia, 17 patients (50%) achieved MC, 13 (38.2%) had CC and 4 (11.8%) developed graft failure. The combined frequency of mixed donor chimerism for both the diseases was 58.3%. D3S1358 was the most informative STR marker in these patients.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Majority of the studied patients developed mixed donor chimerism following bone marrow transplantation, whereas only a minor percentage of the patients had graft failure. Analysis of D3S1358 was the most informative in assessing donor chimerism in patients who underwent BMT.
authors.affiliation: Department of Haematology, Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, Rawalpindi. g_umair@yahoo.com
authors.forename: Ghassan Umair
authors.initials: GU
authors.lastname: Shamshad
authors.forename: Suhaib
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ahmed
authors.forename: Farhat Abbas
authors.initials: FA
authors.lastname: Bhatti
authors.forename: Nadir
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Ali
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000741:Anemia, Aplastic / Q000235:genetics / Q000601:surgery*; D016026:Bone Marrow Transplantation / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000379:methods*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D046528:Chimerism; D002874:Chromosome Mapping; D004247:DNA / Q000032:analysis*; D004586:Electrophoresis; D005260:Female; D005784:Gene Amplification; D005819:Genetic Markers; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D018895:Microsatellite Repeats; D008875:Middle Aged; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods*; D019914:Taq Polymerase; D014019:Tissue Donors; D014184:Transplantation, Homologous; D055815:Young Adult; D017086:beta-Thalassemia / Q000235:genetics / Q000601:surgery*
chemical_list: D005819:Genetic Markers; D004247:DNA; D019914:Taq Polymerase