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Clinical significance of minimal residual disease in adult acute lymphoblastic leukemia

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Abstract

Monitoring minimal residual disease (MRD) in patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is a useful way for assessing treatment response and relapse. We studied the value of MRD and showed a correlation with relapse for 34 adult patients with ALL. MRD was evaluated by real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RQ-PCR) with probes derived from fusion chimeric genes (BCR/ABL) (n = 12) or PCR-based detection of clonal immunoglobulin and T cell receptor gene rearrangements (n = 16), or both (n = 6). We analyzed 27 of the 34 patients who could be examined for MRD on day 100 after induction therapy. The overall survival (OS) rate (45.0%) and relapse-free survival (RFS) rate (40.0%) at 2 years in complete remission (CR) patients with MRD level ≥10−3 (n = 12) were significantly lower than those in CR patients with MRD level <10−3 (n = 15) (OS rate 79.0%, RFS rate 79.4%) (log-rank test, P = 0.017 and 0.0007). We also applied multicolor flow cytometry for comparison with MRD results analyzed by PCR methods. The comparison of results obtained in 27 follow-up samples showed consistency in 17 samples (63.0%) (P = 0.057). MRD analysis on day 100 is important for treatment decision in adult ALL.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported in part by Kyowa-Kirin, Japan (Tokyo, Japan).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Hematology and Oncology, Hokkaido University Graduate School of Medicine, N15, W7, Kita-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido, 060-8648, Japan

    Misato Kikuchi, Junji Tanaka & Masahiro Imamura

  2. Third Department of Internal Medicine, Hokkaido University Graduate School of Medicine, Sapporo, Japan

    Takeshi Kondo, Satoshi Hashino & Masahiro Asaka

  3. Department of Hematology, Sapporo Hokuyu Hospital, Sapporo, Japan

    Masaharu Kasai

  4. Department of Hematology, National Hospital Organization, Hokkaido Cancer Center, Sapporo, Japan

    Mitsutoshi Kurosawa

  5. Second Department of Internal Medicine, Sapporo Kosei Hospital, Sapporo, Japan

    Hiroshi Iwasaki

  6. Department of Internal Medicine, Aiiku Hospital, Sapporo, Japan

    Masanobu Morioka

  7. Department of Internal Medicine, Hakodate Central Hospital, Hakodate, Japan

    Tsugumichi Kawamura

  8. Department of Hematology, Hakodate City Hospital, Hakodate, Japan

    Nobuo Masauzi

  9. Department of Internal Medicine, Asahikawa City Hospital, Asahikawa, Japan

    Takashi Fukuhara

  10. Department of Internal Medicine, Asahikawa Kosei Hospital, Asahikawa, Japan

    Yasutaka Kakinoki

  11. Fourth Department of Internal Medicine, Obihiro Kosei Hospital, Obihiro, Japan

    Hajime Kobayashi

  12. Department of Internal Medicine, Kushiro Rosai Hospital, Kushiro, Japan

    Satoshi Noto

Authors
  1. Misato Kikuchi
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  2. Junji Tanaka
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  3. Takeshi Kondo
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  4. Satoshi Hashino
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  5. Masaharu Kasai
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  6. Mitsutoshi Kurosawa
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  7. Hiroshi Iwasaki
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  8. Masanobu Morioka
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  9. Tsugumichi Kawamura
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  10. Nobuo Masauzi
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  11. Takashi Fukuhara
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  12. Yasutaka Kakinoki
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  13. Hajime Kobayashi
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  14. Satoshi Noto
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  15. Masahiro Asaka
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  16. Masahiro Imamura
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Junji Tanaka.

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Kikuchi, M., Tanaka, J., Kondo, T. et al. Clinical significance of minimal residual disease in adult acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Int J Hematol 92, 481–489 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12185-010-0670-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12185-010-0670-1

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