Objective: To explore the sensitivity, specificity and reproducibility of dual-color and dual-fusion fluorescence in situ hybridization (D-FISH) in detecting the minimal residual disease (MRD) of chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) after treatment.
Methods: MRD were detected in the bone marrow of 8 cases of chronic myeloid leukemia after treatment with interphase fluorescence in situ hybridization. Sensitivity, specificity and reproducibility of D-FISH were compared with those of single-fusion FISH (S-FISH). Furthermore, correlation between the results of D-FISH and RT-PCR was explored.
Results: D-FISH was more sensitive and specific than S-FISH and had a good reproducibility. In normal control, the cutoff rates of D-FISH and S-FISH were 0.570% and 5.868% with significant statistic difference. In detection of MRD in 8 cases of CML post transplantation, positive rates of S-FISH and D-FISH were 3/8 (37.5%) and 5/8 (62.5%) respectively. Furthermore, the results of D-FISH had a high correlation with that of RT-PCR.
Conclusion: In view of the lower false-positive and false-negative results of D-FISH, it may be used in the detection of minimal residual disease in CML after treatment. But further exploration is required for verifying the correlation between the results of D-FISH and the clinical parameters.