Autologous reconstitution combined with durable leukemic remission after allogeneic BMT for CML: absence of persistence of a donor-derived T cell effector population

We report a case of autologous hematopoietic recovery with durable leukemic remission after BMT from a phenotypically HLA-identical donor in a 30-year -old male with CML. Graft loss was diagnosed from day 60 post-BMT by VNTR P CR. To assess for the presence of a minor donor-derived T cell population t hat could exert an anti-leukemic effect, we serially applied a sensitive pr ocess of chimerism analysis by fluorescent PCR on sorted T cells. No residu al donor T cells could be detected. We also showed retrospectively that a v ery sensitive method of MRD analysis by real-time quantitative PCR could ha ve permitted prediction of relapse in this case.