CLINICAL AND MOLECULAR REMISSION AFTER ALLOGENEIC BLOOD-CELL TRANSPLANTATION IN A PATIENT WITH MANTLE-CELL LYMPHOMA

Mantle-cell lymphoma (MCL) is a B-cell tumour with a usually poor prog nosis, characterized by the proliferation of small cleaved lymphocytes with a diffuse growth pattern. We report a polymerase chain reaction- based analysis of minimal residual disease in a patient who achieved c omplete remission after allogeneic blood cell transplantation (BCT). R earrangement of the immunoglobulin heavy-chain genes was used to gener ate a lymphoma-specific molecular marker. Lymphoma cells were not dete ctable in a bone marrow sample collected 12 months after BCT. Our find ings suggest that allogeneic BCT may offer a curative approach to MCL.