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Real-time quantitative PCR for detection of minimal residual disease before allogeneic stem cell transplantation predicts outcome in children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia

Leukemia volume 15, pages 1485–1487 (2001)Cite this article

Allogeneic stem cell transplantation (SCT) is commonly used in the treatment of children with high-risk or relapsed acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). However, recurrence of the initial disease is still a major problem following allogeneic SCT. In addition, transplant-related mortality also negatively influences overall survival. Therefore, it will be of benefit to discriminate between those patients who might profit from the currently applied allogeneic SCT procedures and those for whom other treatment modalities might be more beneficial.

Recently, Knechtli et al1 demonstrated that the presence of minimal residual disease (MRD) before SCT has a high predictive value for clinical outcome. In this study, PCR-based analysis of immunoglobulin (Ig) and T cell receptor (TCR) gene rearrangements was used to categorize MRD levels in bone marrow (BM) samples obtained 1 to 11 weeks before SCT.1 A clear difference in 2-year event-free survival was observed between high-level MRD+ patients (0%), low-level MRD+ patients (36%), and MRD-negative patients (73%).

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References

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Immunology, University Hospital Rotterdam/Erasmus University Rotterdam, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

    VHJ van der Velden, SA Joosten, MJ Willemse & JJM van Dongen

  2. Dutch Childhood Leukemia Study Group, The Hauge, The Netherlands

    ER van Wering & PM Hoogerbrugge

  3. Department of Pediatrics, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, The Netherlands

    AW Lankester & PM Hoogerbrugge

Authors
  1. VHJ van der Velden
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  2. SA Joosten
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  5. AW Lankester
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  7. PM Hoogerbrugge
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van der Velden, V., Joosten, S., Willemse, M. et al. Real-time quantitative PCR for detection of minimal residual disease before allogeneic stem cell transplantation predicts outcome in children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Leukemia 15, 1485–1487 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.leu.2402198

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