Rapid disappearance of AMLI/ETO fusion transcripts in patients with t(8;21) acute myeloid leukemia following bone marrow transplantation and chemotherapy

Abstract

To assess the clinical significance of monitoring minimal residual disease in t(8;21)(q22;q22) AML, RT-PCR assay was conducted during the clinical course of 12 patients who had undergone BMT or conventional chemotherapy. Two cases relapsed after BMT and chimeric RNA was detected soon after BMT in their bone marrow cells. The other three cases, in whom chimeric RNA was not detected after BMT, are in CR at 21 to 33 months following BMT. Similarly, four out of 7 cases who showed negative chimeric RNA after completion of chemotherapy have been in CR at 11 to 34 monthsfollowing completion of chemotherapy.

The present findings appear different from other studies which reported the detection of AMLI-ETO chimeric RNA in long-term CR patients.

Key Words:

• t(8;21)(q;22;q22)
• acute myeloid leukemia (AML)
• AML1-ETO
• chimeric RNA
• RT-PCR
• minimal residual disease (MRD)