1. ¹Department of Pathology, The Methodist Hospital, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, USA
2. ²Department of Medicine, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI, USA
3. ³Department of Pathology, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI, USA
4. ⁴Department of Biostatistics, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI, USA
5. ⁵Department of Pathology, The Methodist Hospital, Weil Medical College, Cornell University, Houston, TX, USA

Correspondence: Dr C-C Chang, Department of Pathology, The Methodist Hospital, 6565 Fannin Street, Houston, TX 77030, USA. E-mail: jeffchang@tmh.tmc.edu

Received 28 October 2004; Accepted 4 January 2005; Published online 11 April 2005.

Abstract

We performed real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RQ-PCR) in peripheral blood (PB) and/or bone marrow (BM) samples collected pre- and post transplant from 23 recipient–donor pairs receiving allogeneic stem cell transplantation (allo-SCT) for follicular lymphoma (FL). Of 23 donors, 11 had a PB and/or BM sample positive for t(14;18) (BCL2/IGH fusion) at low levels (<one t(14;18) cell in 10K total cells). Recipients from donors with (n=11) and those without (n=12) detectable t(14:18) cells were similar in age, sex, and disease status pretransplant. No differences in the incidence of graft-versus-host-disease (GVHD), delayed engraftment, relapse rate, disease-free survival and overall survival were identified between the groups. Two recipients without detectable t(14;18) cells pre-transplant showed detectable t(14;18) cells at 2 and 11 years after receiving grafts from donors with t(14:18) cells. Neither patient developed FL 1.5 and 2 years after the emergence of t(14;18) cells. Although the sample size is relatively small, our findings suggest that individuals carrying t(14;18) cells may not be excluded as donors given the lack of an association of t(14;18) detected in donors with adverse clinical outcome. It may be necessary to screen for the donor's t(14;18) status before using t(14;18) for monitoring minimal residual disease by RQ-PCR to exclude the possibility of confounding donor's t(14;18) clone.