Acta Med. 1999, 42: 85-88
Minimal Residual Disease, Its Detection and Significance in Hairy-Cell Leukemia
As minimal residual disease (MRD) is considered the detection of hairy cells (HCs) in a patient with hairy cell leukemia (HCL) in complete remission with the absence of detectable HCs by routine morphology of peripheral blood, aspirates and bone marrow core sections, using more sensitive methods of identification as immunohistological staining or polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to detect immunoglobulin heavy chain genes rearrangement. Various monoclonal antibodies (MoAbs) as CD20, DBA.44, B ly-7, HC2, CD25 and CD11c have been applied using immunological staining. There is no standardized technique for identification of MRD. According to the technique used the MRD has been detected in 13% to 100% of patients in complete remission (CR). It may be concluded that many patients, if not all, in stable CR may have residual HCs. Whether MRD will have impact on early relapse or on long term outcome, or whether patients in CR with persistant MRD will remain so, is a matter of a longer follow-up.
Keywords
Hairy cell leukemia, Minimal residual disease, Detection, Significance.
Funding
Supported by Grant IGA No. 4101-3 from the Ministry of Health of the Czech Republic.
References
Copyright
Published by the Karolinum Press. For permission to use please write to actamedica@lfhk.cuni.cz.
