title: Isolated extramedullary cutaneous relapse despite concomitant severe graft-vs.-host disease and tissue chimerism analysis in a patient with acute lymphoblastic leukemia after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation: A case report.
abstract: Allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT) is a potentially curative treatment option for patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). The curative potential of allo-HSCT for ALL is, in part, due to the graft-vs.-leukemia (GVL) effect, in addition to the intensive conditioning chemo-radiotherapy. However, relapse remains the major cause of treatment failure following allo-HSCT for ALL. In the allo-HSCT setting, testing for genetic markers of hematopoietic chimerism has become a part of the routine diagnostic program. Routine chimerism analysis is usually performed in peripheral blood or bone marrow; in fact, little is known about the value of tissue chimerism in patients with extramedullary relapse (EMR) after the allo-HSCT setting. The present study reports on, a case of a patient with ALL who experienced isolated cutaneous EMR despite ongoing graft-vs.-host disease (GVHD), and the results of peripheral blood and skin tissue chimerism studies using multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR) of short tandem repeats (STR-PCR). The present case demonstrates that, although complete remission and/or chimerism may be achieved in the bone marrow, chimerism achieved at the tissue level, and the subsequent GVL effect, may be limited, despite concomitant severe GVHD following allo-HSCT. Our tissue chimerism analysis results provide a good example of how skin tissue may be a 'sanctuary' site for effector cells of GVL, despite active GVHD and complete hematopoetic chimerism.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Hematology, Istanbul Medipol University, Istanbul 34214, Turkey.
authors.forename: Bulent
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Kantarcioglu
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Hematology, Istanbul Medipol University, Istanbul 34214, Turkey.
authors.forename: Huseyin Saffet
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Bekoz
authors.affiliation: Istanbul Medical Faculty, Department of Medical Biology, Istanbul University, Istanbul 34214, Turkey.
authors.forename: Yeliz Duvarci
authors.initials: YD
authors.lastname: Ogret
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Istanbul Medipol University, Istanbul 34214, Turkey.
authors.forename: Asli
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Cakir
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Hematology, Istanbul Medipol University, Istanbul 34214, Turkey.
authors.forename: Demet
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Kivanc
authors.affiliation: Istanbul Medical Faculty, Department of Medical Biology, Istanbul University, Istanbul 34214, Turkey.
authors.forename: Fatma Savran
authors.initials: FS
authors.lastname: Oguz
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Hematology, Istanbul Medipol University, Istanbul 34214, Turkey.
authors.forename: Deniz
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Sargin
keywords: acute lymphoblastic leukemia; allogeneic stem cell transplantation; extramedullary relapse; tissue chimerism