Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is a powerful and rapid method for specific
ally detecting BCR-ABL rearrangement by amplification of the complementary
DNA (cDNA) produced by reverse transcription of BCR-ABL mRNA. We studied 29
patients for detecting the presence of BCR-ABL transcripts before and afte
r bone marrow transplantation (BMT). Our sample was composed of two differe
nt groups of patients: one group (n = 18) was studied by serial follow-ups
before and after BMT; a second group (n = II) was studied several years aft
er BMT. Detection of BCR-ABL was carried out with different primer sets at
different periods of the clinical outcome of chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML
). A comparison of PCR data and clinical-haematological conditions showed c
lear differences between patients. In the first group, eight patients showe
d a positive correlation between a favourable clinical outcome and molecula
r remission. Conversely, in the second group, six patients were BCR-ABL pos
itive between 20 and 117 months after BMT, while only two of these patients
showed signs of clinical relapse. Among all patients whose isoforms were k
nown at some time during the course of CML, the more frequent isoform was b
3a2. These results were compared to previous findings in the literature on
diagnosis, outcome and prognosis of CML. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All
rights reserved.