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Minimal residual disease in ALL

Nature Reviews Clinical Oncology volume 7, page 356 (2010)Cite this article

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Several studies on adult and childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) have shown that, through monitoring of PCR molecular targets, detection of minimal residual disease (MRD) after initial chemotherapy could predict outcome. Now, a large-scale, prospective clinical trial has shown that PCR evaluation of MRD measured at two time points during treatment can classify patients with ALL into different risk groups and, thus, determine what postinduction treatment should be selected.

DNA samples from 3,184 patients with B-cell precursor ALL were screened by PCR amplification for immunoglobulin and T-cell receptor gene rearrangements (targets for monitoring MRD that were identified in previous studies) at day 33 and day 78 of treatment. Patients that were negative for MRD at both time points were defined as having a standard risk for relapse; patients that were MRD positive at a sensitivity level of ≥10−3 at the second time point were defined as being at a high risk for relapse; all other patients were classified as being at an intermediate risk for relapse.

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ORIGINAL RESEARCH PAPER

  1. Conter, V. et al. Molecular response to treatment redefines all prognostic factors in children and adolescents with B-cell precursor acute lymphoblastic leukemia: results in 3184 patients of the AIEOP–BFM ALL 2000 study. Blood 115, 3206–3214 (2010)

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  1. Lisa Richards
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Richards, L. Minimal residual disease in ALL. Nat Rev Clin Oncol 7, 356 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrclinonc.2010.95

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nrclinonc.2010.95

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