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Molecular monitoring of acute myeloid leukemia associated with inv(16): threshold of CBFβ/MYH11 transcript copy number above which relapse occurs and below which continuous Complete Remission is likely

Leukemia volume 17, pages 650–651 (2003)Cite this article

TO THE EDITOR

Guerrasio et al1 reported qualitative and real-time PCR data on the CBFβ/MYH11 fusion transcript for clinical evaluation of minimal residual disease (MRD) in patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) (FAB M4Eo subtype) associated with the inv(16)(p13q22) chromosomal rearrangement. The authors are actively involved in the CBFβ/MYH11 subtask of the European SANCO Concerted Action of the Europe Against Cancer Program (G Saglio, coordinator), the results of which have been submitted to Leukemia. Consequently, their retrospective quantitative results on MRD status in bone marrow samples from 16/36 patients were expressed as CBFβ/MYH11 copy numbers per 104 copies of the ABL housekeeping gene. They reported that on achievement of complete remission (CR), the mean copy number was significantly higher in patients who later relapsed than in those who went on to attain continuous CR (CCR) (151 vs 9, P<0.0001 by Mann–Whitney test). Moreover, in patients who maintained CCR, the copy number subsequently dropped below the detection threshold and remained undetectable. By contrast, in the 7/16 patients who relapsed, the copy number never dropped to the minimum detection level. Thus, a cutoff value discriminating these two groups of patients could be inferred at one copy of CBFβ/MYH11 per 104 copies of ABL. The authors invited confirmation of the predictive value of real-time PCR determination of MRD in AML patients with inv(16).

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References

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Acknowledgements

We thank SANCO (European Concerted Action Project), Dr Clara Bloomfield, and AK Burnett for their valuable suggestions. We thank Dr Achille Ambrosetti and Dr Domenico Russo of the Institutes of Hematology of the Universities of Verona and Udine, respectively, for providing the material for the molecular analysis of two patients. We also thank Robin MT Cooke for helping work up the manuscript. This work was supported by Cofin 2000 (S. Tura) Cofin 2001-2002 (M. Baccarani), Ateneo of Bologna, AIRC, AIL and “Fondazione Banco del Nonte” grants.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Haematology and Medical Oncology‘L e A Seràgnoli’, University of Bologna, Italy

    G Martinelli, S Buonamici, M Malagola, P P Piccaluga, A Isidori, C Bosi, F Bonifazi, S Soverini, C Terragna, M Amabile, B Giannini & M Baccarani

  2. Division of Hematology,S Salvatore Hospital, Pesaro, Italy

    G Visani

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Martinelli, G., Buonamici, S., Visani, G. et al. Molecular monitoring of acute myeloid leukemia associated with inv(16): threshold of CBFβ/MYH11 transcript copy number above which relapse occurs and below which continuous Complete Remission is likely. Leukemia 17, 650–651 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.leu.2402822

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