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Minimal residual disease (MRD) assessment by flow cytometry after ASCT for AL amyloidosis: are we there yet?

Bone Marrow Transplantation volume 52, pages 915–917 (2017)Cite this article

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Ig light-chain (AL) amyloidosis is a plasma cell disorder in which monoclonal light-chain fibrils deposit into extracellular tissues, leading to organ dysfunction. It is a systemic disease, and most frequently affects the kidneys, heart, peripheral nerves, liver and the gastrointestinal tract. AL amyloidosis is the most common type of systemic amyloidosis and has a poor prognosis without treatment. Patient outcomes depend largely on the degree of organ involvement and response to therapy.1

The consensus guideline reported in 2012 by Palladini G et al outlines a set of criteria for organ and hematological response to treatment for AL amyloidosis that prognosticate patient outcomes.2 The paper highlights the importance of timely assessment of patients’ responses to treatment using these prognostic markers to guide therapeutic decisions. As our understanding and treatment approaches for AL amyloidosis evolve, there is continued research into developing sensitive and accurate markers that can measure treatment efficacy and can reliably predict patient survival outcomes.

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Acknowledgements

Author contributions

HL and VJZ performed research, collected, analyzed, interpreted the data, performed statistical analysis and wrote the manuscript; NB, JT, PN and PD designed research, analyzed and interpreted the data, and wrote the manuscript.

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  1. Department of Medical Oncology and Hematology, Tom Baker Cancer Center, Calgary, AB, Canada,

    H Lee, P Duggan, P Neri, J Tay, N J Bahlis & V H Jimenez-Zepeda

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  1. H Lee
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Correspondence to V H Jimenez-Zepeda.

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Lee, H., Duggan, P., Neri, P. et al. Minimal residual disease (MRD) assessment by flow cytometry after ASCT for AL amyloidosis: are we there yet?. Bone Marrow Transplant 52, 915–917 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/bmt.2017.28

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