LightCycler®-Based Quantitative Real-time PCR Monitoring of Patients with Follicular Lymphoma Receiving Rituximab in Combination with Conventional or High-Dose Cytotoxic Chemotherapy.

Objectives: Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) is a suitable method to measure residual disease in hemato¬logical malignancies. Our objective was to assess a LightCycler based qPCR for t(14 18)(q32 q21)(6c 2) positive cells quantification in the context of clinical and morphopathological characteristics of patients with follicular lymphoma treated with rituximab (R) in combination with conventional or high-dose chemotherapy. Methods: A total of 270 bone marrow (BM) and peripheral blood (PB) samples collected from 52 patients with follicular lymphoma at diagnosis or at relapse before or sequentially during therapy were examined by qPCR and nested PCR. Results: A greater amount of t(14 18) positive cells was observed in BM in comparison with PB in 76 percent of paired samples. The presence and number of t(14 I8) positive cells in BM and PB correlated with lymphoma activity. Significantly higher numbers of lymphoma cells were found in patients under non-remission compared with patients in clinical remission. During non-remission, 10-fold higher numbers were measured at relapse than at diagnosis. During remission, significantly higher levels were found in partial compared with complete remission. During first-line therapy, R cyclophosphamide adriamycin vincristine prednisone (CHOP) had higher in vivo purging ability than R fludara bine mitoxantrone (FM). After R high-dose cytosine-arabinoside and mitoxantrone (HAM) or R carmustine etoposide cytarabine melphalan (BEAM), the level of t(14 18) positive cells dropped below the detection limit in 80 per cent of patients. Conclusions: LightCycler qPCR is a reliable method for quantitative molecular monitoring of t(14 18) positive cells in BM and PB of patients with follicular lymphoma. It reflects the clinical characteristics of patients and allows assessment of response to different treatment regimens on a molecular level.

MARTIN Simona;  FISCHER C.;  FREE M.;  KURRECK B.;  STOCKINGER H.;  FENK R.;  ARNOLD C.;  KLISZEWSKI S.;  MECKENSTOCK G.;  HAAS R.;  KRONENWETT R.; 

2005-07-29

BLACKWELL PUBLISHING

JRC30042

https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC30042,