Ten Years of Molecular Monitoring of Chronic Myeloid Leukemia by Quantitative RT-PCR

Overview

Chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) is characterized by the presence of BCR-ABL fusion gene resulting from the reciprocal chromosome translocation t(9;22)(q34;q11), karyotypically detected as Ph chromosome. BCR-ABL gene was proved to play the principal role in CML pathogenesis. It is a hallmark of CML used in diagnostics and monitoring of the response to the therapy. The most sensitive method of detecting BCR-ABL aberration is RT-PCR which is able to find a single in leukemic cell betweey 106 normal leukocytes. Monitoring of BCR-ABL transcript level by quantitative RT-PCR is of the high prognostic value. High or increasing BCR-ABL transcript number signalizes bad response to treatment and a bad prognosis. On the contrary RT-PCR negativity, low level, or decreasing BCR-ABL transcript number denotes good response to treatment and good prognosis. Q-RT-PCR can detect changes in disease status several weeks or even months earlier than other methods. In 1994 the Q-RT-PCR was introduced at the Institute of Hematology and Blood Transfusion in Prague and was used for early detection of relapse after transplantation. At present it is used in all patients with CML for monitoring of response to the treatment. We have confirmed that this precise, sensitive and non-invasive method is of the principal importance for monitoring of disease status in CML patients. 

Key words:
CML, BCR-ABL, quantitative RT-PCR, disease status, disease prognosis.