CYTOGENETIC ANALYSIS IN HUMAN BONE-MARROW TRANSPLANTATION

Bone marrow transplantation (BMT) is a therapeutic process used to tre at a variety of hematologic diseases. After BMT, the documentation of engrafting with the use of genetic markers is obligatory. C-band polym orphism is an excellent genetic marker because it occurs with: high fr equency in all populations studied and shows a high stability in vitro and in vivo. We studied a total of 36 patients: 25 with myeloid leuke mia and 21 with severe aplastic anemia (SAA), submitted to BMT. The ma jority of the patients with chronic granulocyte leukemia (CGL; 10/15, 67%) and with SAA (17/21, 81 %) showed a frequency of host cells aroun d 15% (CGL) and 8% (SAA) in the first period analyzed (day+30 post-BMT ); with a decrease in the others (+90, +180 to CGL and SAA and +365 on ly to CGL). In our study the persistence of host cells in these propor tions did not imply an unfavorable prognosis. On the contrary, some pa tients with myeloid leukemia (5/15, 33%) and SAA (4/21, 19%) showed hi gh proportions of host cells in one or more periods analyzed. if compa red to the first group, these patients had, in general, a poor clinica l evolution, with rejections, relapses, and deaths in greater numbers. These results show the important contribution of cytogenetic analysis in the follow-up of patients submitted to BMT.