Persistence of BCR/ABL mRNA-expressing bone-marrow cells in patients with chronic myelogenous leukemia in complete cytogenetic remission induced by interferon-alpha therapy
Eberlé, F.; Toiron, Y.; Camerlo, J.; Lafage, M.; Sainty, D.; Arnoulet, C.; Raineri, V.; Gabert, J.; Maraninchi, D.; Mannoni, P.
Leukemia and Lymphoma 18(1-2): 153-157
1995
ISSN/ISBN: 1042-8194 PMID: 8580818 DOI: 10.3109/10428199509064936
Accession: 046957210
Complete hematologic and cytogenetic responses can be obtained with interferon-alpha (IFN-alpha) in 15-25% of the patients with chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML). In these patients, reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) can be used to evaluate minimal residual disease. We studied 12 patients who remained Philadelphia-negative for a median period of 21 months on IFN-alpha therapy. Using RT-PCR, the specific transcript was found in all bone marrow (BM) samples. Ten patients still exhibiting a persistent residual clone remained in cytogenetic remission for a median period of 14 months. As we observed a dissociation between bcr-abl expression in BM and peripheral blood (PB) cells, and given the known fluctuations of the bcr-abl PCR results, we suggest that PB negative results should be confirmed on BM specimens. Alternatively, it remains to be demonstrated whether longitudinal monitoring of residual disease would benefit from quantitative PCR or double fluorescence in situ hybridization.