Objective: To detect minimal residual disease (MRD) after allogeneic bone marrow transplantation (allo-BMT) in chronic myeloid leukemia (CML).
Methods: M-bcr/abl mRNA was assayed by reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) in bone marrow cells from 46 successfully sibling marrow engrafted CML patients.
Results: About 70% of the patients achieved genetic complete remission in 3 months post allo-BMT. Four patients were M-bcr/abc mRNA positive at 1.5 to 2 months post allo-BMT and turned to be negative at 3 to 9 months post allo-BMT. One patient was still M-bcr/abl(+) after disease-free survival(DFS) for more than 6 years, while another one was M-bcr/abl(-) after DFS for more than 4 years.
Conclusion: RT-PCR is so far the most sensitive method for MRD detection in CML, but its limitation should not be ignored.