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Results for “Clonal Evolution”

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PubMed1987

Chronic myelogenous leukemia in blast crisis. Analysis of 242 patients.

Two hundred forty-two patients with Philadelphia chromosome-positive chronic myelogenous leukemia in blast crisis were reviewed to identify significant biologic and prognostic associations. Twenty percent of patients had lymphoid blast crisis. Clonal evolution was present in 60 percent of patients at blast crisis and involved most frequently the development of a double Philadelphia chromosome, trisomy 8, or isochromosome 17. The overall median survival from blast crisis was 18 weeks. Patient characteristics demonstrated to have significant association with short survival were: anemia; thrombocytopenia; myeloid or undifferentiated blast cell morphology; clonal evolution involving the presence of a double Philadelphia chromosome, trisomy 8, or isochromosome 17; and low marrow blast percentage. Of 195 patients who received therapy for blast crisis, complete remission was achieved in 44 (23 percent) patients, and 24 (13 percent) patients had a partial remission or hematologic improvement. Lower complete remission rates were associated with old age, thrombocytopenia, myeloid or undifferentiated blast cell morphology, clonal evolution--especially isochromosome 17 and trisomy 8--and long interval from diagnosis to onset of blast crisis. A multivariate analysis identified two characteristics to have independent prognostic importance for both survival and remission: platelet counts and blast cell morphology. In addition, clonal evolution had additive prognostic value for survival (double Philadelphia chromosome) and for response (isochromosome 17). The beneficial association of therapy with survival was demonstrated by the significantly longer median survival of patients treated since 1981 compared with those treated earlier, even after accounting for the pretreatment prognostic factors, and by the significant improvement in survival of patients achieving remission using the "landmark" analysis technique.

Blast Crisis↗

PubMed2003

The effect of imatinib mesylate on patients with Philadelphia chromosome-positive chronic myeloid leukemia with secondary chromosomal aberrations.

PURPOSE AND EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN: The acquisition of secondary chromosomal aberrations in chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) patients with Philadelphia chromosome-positive (Ph+) karyotype signifies clonal evolution associated with disease progression to accelerated/blastic phase. Therefore, these aberrations are of clinical and biological importance. We identified 58 cases with secondary abnormalities in addition to t(9;22)(q34;q11.2) or its variants in a review of 137 CML patients treated with imatinib mesylate (STI571). Clinically 13 patients were in chronic phase, 24 in accelerated phase, and 21 in blastic phase. RESULTS: More than 50% of cases showed the major routes of CML clonal evolution [+8, i(17q), +Ph, and/or +19]. The remainder exhibited minor routes of secondary abnormalities with -17/17p-, 11p-/rearr(11p), and -7/rearr(7) as the most frequent abnormalities. Of particular interest, one case developed an inv(16)(p13q22) as a secondary anomaly during blastic transformation. The bone marrow was consistent with myelomonocytic morphology with eosinophilia. Cytogenetic responses to imatinib mesylate occurred in 15 of 58 (26%) patients; 12 achieved complete cytogenetic remission, 2 had a major response, and 1 had a minor response, with most responses noted within 3-6 months. Seven patients remain in remission >17-30 months, 2 patients relapsed between 12 and 19 months on therapy, and 1 patient was treated by bone marrow transplantation. CONCLUSIONS: Although some Ph+ CML patients with clonal evolution can have a complete cytogenetic response to imatinib mesylate, responses tend to be brief, and such patients may benefit from subsequent stem cell transplantation. Therefore, CML patients with clonal evolution may require therapy additional to imatinib mesylate for maximal eradication of the Ph+ leukemic cells.

Adult↗

PubMed1990

Clues from natural history and results of treatment supporting the monoclonal origin of germ cell tumours.

Recent observations have suggested that a major factor in the development of germ cell tumours may be excessive mitogenic stimulus developed because of failure of feedback suppression of the normal pituitary drive due to atrophic damage to germinal epithelium. With this observation and the increasing recognition that there is a common in situ stage which precedes both seminoma and malignant teratoma/non-seminoma there has been a polarisation of views regarding the relationship between seminoma and malignant teratoma/non-seminoma, with some authors viewing these two entities as separate unrelated transformational events while others hypothesise that seminoma is an interim stage of clonal evolution associated with increased malignant potential towards malignant teratoma/non-seminoma. This chapter reviews the clinical evidence supporting the concept of clonal evolution which arises from the observation that the modal DNA content of seminoma (3.6N) is intermediate between that of in situ carcinoma (4.2N) and malignant teratoma/non-seminoma (2.8N). These observations, taken with the observation that the median age of patients with mixed tumours containing both seminoma and non-seminoma elements (30 years) is intermediate between the slower growing seminoma (35 years) and faster growing malignant teratoma/non-seminoma (25 years), as well as studies of spontaneous regression, tumours in AIDS patients chemo/radio sensitivity and post mortem histology, provide the most convincing evidence supporting clonal evolution. However, these observations cannot explain the fact that some patients have more than one focus of tumour (which can be of different histological type) in a single testis with normal tubules in between, even if they have in situ carcinoma. An extreme manifestation is seen in patients who are treated and cured from metastases arising from one testicle who then die from metastases from a completely different histological type arising from a second transformation event of a germ cell in the contralateral testis. The conclusion from these observations is that it is indeed possible for polyclonal development of tumours to occur, as is seen for bladder and bowel tumours, but they do not detract from the concept that seminoma is an intermediate event in the evolution from in situ carcinoma to malignant teratoma/non-seminoma.

Adult↗

PubMed1995

Characterization of clonal immunoglobulin heavy chain and I cell receptor gamma gene rearrangements during progression of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

Instability of antigen receptor gene rearrangements during progression of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) has important implications for polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based techniques using these genes for the detection of minimal residual disease (MRD). Antigen receptor gene instability may lead to false negative results in bone marrow samples taken during remission. Utilizing the PCR and consensus primers for rearranged immunoglobulin heavy chain (IgH) and T cell receptor gamma (TCR gamma) gene sequences, we analyzed the bone marrow samples at diagnosis and first relapse for 37 children with ALL. The incidence of clonal evolution at the IgH locus was 9/33 (27%) and at the TCR gamma locus 1/15 (7%). In four of the nine patients with clonal evolution at the IgH locus, the sequence at relapse retained the diversity and joining region (D-N-J) sequences from diagnosis. Patients with clonal evolution were characterized by a higher incidence of more than one IgH PCR band at diagnosis and by late relapse (> 18 months from diagnosis). These results suggest that, where possible, patients with more than one IgH PCR rearrangement at diagnosis should be monitored using another antigen receptor gene, such as TCR gamma, since evolution for this gene was found to be a rare event. By combining this approach with a strategy directed at the more stable D-N-J region of the IgH gene, MRD false negativity would have occurred in less than 10% of patients in the present study.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1995

Detection of evolving immunoglobulin heavy-chain gene rearrangements in acute lymphoblastic leukemia: a PCR-based assay employing overlapping DJH primers.

The use of the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to amplify clonal immunoglobulin heavy-chain (IgH) gene rearrangements appears to be a particularly promising technique for detecting minimal residual disease (MRD). However, a major obstacle to successful implementation of this technique involves the problem of clonal evolution, in which instability of the VHDJH region leads to the generation of further rearrangements of the IgH gene over time. Such clonal evolution results in a high likelihood of false negative results when detecting MRD using clone-specific primers based on the rearrangement present at diagnosis. Since in acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), clonal evolution commonly involves alterations of the VHD joining but not the DJH joining, we have devised a novel PCR strategy to circumvent the problem of false negativity in these evolved leukemias. The strategy, which involves construction of overlapping clone-specific DJH primers for use with a consensus VH segment primer, can be used to amplify both evolved and nonevolved ALL populations with high sensitivity and specificity. The method does not require radioactivity and should prove valuable for improving the effectiveness of PCR-based detection of residual leukemia.

Base Sequence↗

PubMed1987

Nonrandom chromosomal aberrations and clonal chromosomal evolution in acute leukemia associated with Down's syndrome.

Nine Down's syndrome (DS) children, four with acute leukemia, one with acute leukemia as well as rhabdomyosarcoma, and four with other hematologic disorders, were analyzed for constitutional and acquired chromosomal aberrations. Acquired clonal chromosomal aberrations were identified only in the acute leukemia cases, and four of the five acute leukemia demonstrated numerical and/or structural aberrations involving chromosomes #8, #19, and #21. Of the 11 aneuploid stem cell lines identified in the five acute leukemia cases, trisomy 21, trisomy 8, trisomy 19, and tetrasomy or pentasomy 21 was found in 11, seven, four, and two lines, respectively. The frequent appearance of multiple stem cell lines with common and/or overlapping chromosomal aberrations in acute leukemia cases demonstrates the existence of genomic instability and heterogeneity of the neoplastic cell population, which results from clonal chromosomal evolution. Furthermore, trisomy 19 was identified only with the concurrent presence of trisomy 8, suggesting that the nondisjunction of chromosome #19 probably occurred after that of #8. Trisomy 21 was observed in every aneuploid stem cell line and, in one case, trisomy 21 was maintained in the bone marrow leukemic cells but not in the orbital rhabdomyosarcoma cells, indicating that this constitutional chromosomal aberration is probably crucial for and predisposed to the development of acute leukemia in DS patients. The association of acquired clonal chromosomal aberrations, especially those involving chromosomes #8, #19, and #21, with DS acute leukemia strongly suggests the clinical implication of cytogenetic analysis in the diagnosis of acute leukemia development in DS patients.

Acute Disease↗

PubMed1984

Sequential karyotypic evolutions and bone marrow aplasia preceding acute myelomonocytic transformation from myelodysplastic syndrome.

Serial haematopathological and cytogenetic studies disclosed three distinct clinical phase in a case of refractory anaemia (RA), a subtype of myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS; FAB group, 1982): first, chronic MDS phase (1 year 10 months) with karyotypic abnormality (45, XY, --7) (Clone I); second, hypo-aplastic phase concurrent with first clonal evolution (45, XY, --7, 12p--) (Clone II); third, acute myelomonocytic leukaemia phase (6 months) with second clonal evolution (45, XY, --7,t (1q --; Bq+), Bq --, 12p --) (Clone III). In the second phase the bone marrow became almost aplastic as Clone II expanded progressively, indicating simultaneous occurrence in Clone II stem cells of growth advantage for self-renewal function over Clone I and normal stem cells, and arrest of differentiation. These observations support the hypothesis that leukaemic change in MDS, at least in RA, occurs by stepwise clonal evolution(s), not by progressive arrest of differentiation in original MDS clone.

Anemia, Aplastic↗

PubMed1991

Biclonal analysis of busulfan-induced sister chromatid exchange in blast crisis of Philadelphia chromosome-positive chronic myeloid leukemia.

The frequency of induced sister chromatid exchange (SCE) as a sensitive parameter for chemotherapy resistance was studied after in vitro treatment with busulfan in four cases of myeloid blast crisis of Philadelphia chromosome (Ph)-positive chronic myeloid leukemia (CML). Prerequisite was a chromosomally biclonal condition with cells characterized by numerical and/or structural clonal evolution [e.g., +8, +17, +19, or i(17q)] and those only Ph+, which allowed a direct comparison of both clones. We found almost identical mean SCE frequencies in cells with and without clonal evolution after in vitro treatment with 1, 3, and 5 micrograms busulfan. The distribution of the SCE frequency within chromosome groups also remained similar in all cases. Because the SCE assay has proven a very sensitive tool for detection of resistance to chemotherapy with alkylating agents, we conclude that the clonal evolution of CML blast crisis is not associated with a significant degree of chemotherapy resistance. Other aspects, e.g., the lack of normal bone marrow cells necessary for reconstitution of hematopoiesis, may play a more important role in the poor results of chemotherapy in myeloid CML blast crisis.

Blast Crisis↗

PubMed1993

Composite lymphoma and related disorders.

Lymphomas evolve over time, usually from the small-cell to the large-cell category, and from follicular histologic characteristics to diffuse architecture. The histologic characteristics of lymphomas may be discordant in patients with multiple sites of involvement. When different types of lymphomas are encountered in a single organ or tissue, they are designated as CLs in the Working Formulation of NHL. The most common CLs consist of different subsets of follicular center cell lymphomas, usually one with low-grade follicular histologic characteristics and another with diffuse architecture and/or more aggressive cytologic features. These lymphomas now are considered to represent different phases of clonal evolution rather than representing a coincidental simultaneous occurrence of two unrelated lymphomas. Whether B-cell large-cell lymphoma coexisting with another B-cell lymphoma, namely, the nodular variant of lymphocyte-predominant Hodgkin's disease, also represents clonal evolution requires further study. Composite lymphomas consisting of a B-cell lymphoma and a T-cell lymphoma are extremely rare. The histogenetic implications for a clonal relationship between component subsets in these and other equally rare combinations remain uncertain. The CLs should continue to be recognized because (1) the component morphologic subsets may have entirely different natural histories, requiring different treatment modalities although they may be clonally related; and (2) the study of such cases may provide us with information regarding the complex interrelationship of the lymphoid system and its clonal evolution. The morphologic definition for CL of the Working Formulation should continue to be used whenever possible, with addition of appropriate immunologic and/or molecular-genetic data.

Hodgkin Disease↗

PubMed1992

Treatment of advanced stages of Philadelphia chromosome-positive chronic myelogenous leukemia with interferon-alpha and low-dose cytarabine.

PURPOSE: To evaluate the efficacy of interferon-alpha (IFN-A) and low-dose cytarabine (ara-C) combination chemotherapy in patients with chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML). PATIENTS AND METHODS: Sixty patients with advanced phases of Philadelphia chromosome (Ph)-positive CML received combination therapy with IFN-A 5 x 10(6) U/m2 daily, and low-dose ara-C 15 mg/m2 daily for 2 weeks every 4 weeks until remission, then for 1 week every month as maintenance. Forty patients were in late chronic-phase CML, and 20 were in accelerated-phase CML (16 with clonal evolution only, four with other criteria). Their outcome was compared with 58 patients (39 late chronic-phase CML and 19 accelerated-phase CML) who had been previously treated with IFN-A alone in the same dose schedule. RESULTS: In late chronic-phase CML, patients receiving IFN-A plus ara-C had a better complete hematologic response (CHR) rate compared with those treated with IFN-A alone (55% v 28%; P = .02), a trend for better Ph suppression (15% v 5%; P = .13), and a longer survival (3-year survival rate 75% v 48%; P less than .01). These differences do not seem to be caused by imbalances in prognostic factors between the two treatment groups. In accelerated-phase CML, the addition of ara-C to IFN-A did not improve the response rate of treated patients, and the difference in survival was accounted for by different patient characteristics. Suppression of clonal evolution was observed in five patients (25%). Patients with clonal evolution as the only criterion for disease acceleration had a longer survival than those with other or additional accelerated-phase criteria (3-year survival rate 67% v 22%; P less than .01). CONCLUSION: The results with the combination of IFN-A plus ara-C in late chronic-phase CML are encouraging, and suggest the need for its evaluation in early chronic-phase CML.

Adult↗

PubMed1997

Cytogenetics of chronic myelogenous leukaemia.

The Philadelphia (Ph) chromosome is present in the leukaemic cells of most patients with chronic myelogenous leukaemia. Variant translocations occur in 10% of patients but breakpoints on chromosomes 9 and 22 remain the same, so prognosis of these patients is unchanged. Clonal evolution is infrequent in chronic phase and its significance depends on the specific chromosome involved, the number of metaphases affected and the timing in the chronic phase. The majority of patients in blastic phase demonstrate clonal evolution; three specific abnormalities (+Ph, +8 and isochromosome 17q) are present in 70% of patients. Loss of the Ph chromosome on therapy is associated with prolonged survival. For monitoring these events conventional G-band cytogenetics (CG) is essential at presentation to characterize the Disease cytogenetically, while fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) on hypermetaphase preparations (hypermetaphase FISH (HMF)) is important for establishing the specific frequency of Ph+ cells. During treatment FISH on interphase cells (I-FISH) can monitor the level of Ph+ cells in circulation, while CG may be used to identify any suspected clonal evolution. Where I-FISH is negative, HMF is essential to evaluate minimal residual disease.

Chromosomes, Human, Pair 12↗

PubMed1985

Cytogenetics and cell surface marker analysis in CML--1. Prediction of phenotype of acute phase transformation.

Thirty-nine patients with Philadelphia chromosome-positive (Ph1) chronic myelocytic leukemia (CML) were monitored using cytofluorometry and cytogenetics. During chronic phase, abnormal populations could be detected using commercially available monoclonal antibodies. Most of these abnormal populations had either an HLA.DR+ or an OKM1+ HLA.DR- phenotype. Thirteen patients progressed to acute phase disease. Five patients with HLA-DR+ abnormal cells during chronic phase showed no clonal evolution detectable using standard cytogenetic techniques and underwent lymphoid transformation. Seven patients with OKM1+-HLA.DR- abnormal cells exhibited chromosomal abnormalities in addition to the Ph1 and progressed to a myeloblastic acute phase. One patient with HLA.DR+ OKM1+ 63D3+ abnormal cells in chronic phase showed clonal evolution and progressed to a myelomonocytic acute phase. These results suggest that cell surface markers on chronic phase cells can be used in conjunction with cytogenetic monitoring to predict the phenotype of cells involved in the acute transformation of CML. B cells (6, 13), but not T cells (18), bearing the Ph1 have been isolated from chronic phase CML patients. Thus cells other than those of myeloid lineage may be involved. Periodic cytogenetic monitoring has been shown to detect clonal evolution (i.e. genetic changes in addition to the PH1) in as many as 75% of patients prior to the acute phase (14, 37). However, neither cytogenetic changes nor morphologic analysis appear to predict the lymphoblastic type of transformation (14). Since fluorescence analysis of cell surface markers has shown reduced numbers of normal cells (28), the identity of the 'abnormal' cells was probed with antibodies recognizing a variety of markers on immature and mature lymphoid and myeloid cells. Not only were significant numbers of abnormal cells detected in the peripheral blood of chronic phase patients, but the phenotype of the abnormal population, in combination with cytogenetic analyses, predicted the type of blasts involved in acute phase disease.

Adult↗

PubMed1994

A polymerase chain reaction study of the stability of Ig heavy-chain and T-cell receptor delta gene rearrangements between presentation and relapse of childhood B-lineage acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

Ig heavy-chain (IgH) and partial V delta 2-D delta 3 T-cell receptor (TCR) gene rearrangements were investigated, by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification and sequence analysis, in 52 patients at presentation and first relapse and in 14 at both first and second relapse of B-lineage acute lymphoblastic leukemia. In combination, these techniques amplified one or more clonal markers at presentation in 90% of patients (IgH-PCR, 75%; V delta 2-D delta 3-PCR, 46%; both, 33%). Changes in the pattern of amplification between presentation and first relapse were seen in 31% of patients positive by IgH-PCR at presentation and in 25% of those positive by TCR delta-PCR. Only 3 patients showed complete change in their rearrangements, which is suggestive of relapse with a new clone. Furthermore, despite the high reported rates of oligoclonality and clonal evolution at the IgH locus, the results presented show that false-negative minimal residual disease (MRD) detection can be avoided by designing D-N-J probes to all presentation rearrangements. Using a PCR approach for both gene markers, false-negative testing because of clonal evolution would have only occurred in 3 (8%) of the IgH-positive patients, in contrast to 5 (21%) of V delta 2-D delta 3-positive patients. Combining these two systems increases the proportion of patients open to study to 90%, allows comparative studies of the sensitive of the two methods, and reduces the rate of false-negative assessment of MRD caused by clonal evolution to less than 10%. We conclude that large prospective PCR studies of MRD detection should examine gene rearrangements at multiple loci to maximize their applicability and to minimize false-negative relapse prediction.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2004

Enhanced stem cell survival in familial adenomatous polyposis.

Individuals with heterozygous germline adenomatous polyposis coli (APC) mutations or familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP) are born with normal appearing colons but later develop hundreds to thousands of polyps. Tumor progression apparently starts after somatic loss of the normal APC allele, but germline APC mutations may potentially alter niche stem cell survival through dominant-negative interactions or haploinsufficiency. Although morphologically occult, altered stem cell turnover or clonal evolution rates may be detected by measuring the diversity of crypt sequences, with greater diversity expected with longer lived stem cell lineages. Methylation pattern diversity (numbers of unique patterns per crypt) was higher in normal appearing crypts from four of five FAP colons compared to six non-FAP colons and one attenuated FAP colon. Simulations indicate higher FAP crypt diversity is consistent with slower clonal evolution from enhanced stem cell survival, either through increased stem cell numbers or decreased stem cell lineage extinction, which is predicted to increase progression rates to cancer. Enhanced stem cell survival was associated with APC mutations that remove some but not all catenin-binding repeats. Therefore, some APC mutations may be common in colorectal cancers because they confer occult pretumor "caretaker" and "gatekeeper" defects. FAP crypts accumulate more alterations from slower stem cell clonal evolution rather than increased error rates. In non-FAP crypts, enhanced stem cell survival conferred by somatic heterozygous APC mutations would favor fixation through occult clonal niche expansions. Heterozygous APC mutations may change stem cell survival during colorectal pretumor progression.

Adenomatous Polyposis Coli↗

PubMed1989

Cytogenetic studies of 21 patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia in relapse.

Karyotypes of 21 patients, originally entered into the Third International Workshop on Chromosomes in Leukemia (3IWCL), were investigated in first, second and/or subsequent relapses. Karyotypes at diagnosis were related to the relapses in the following ways: normal to normal (N-N) (five cases); abnormal to normal (A-N) (two cases); abnormal to abnormal with no change (A-A) (five cases); abnormal to abnormal with clonal evolution (A-A+) (eight cases); and normal to abnormal (N-A) (one case). The A-A group comprised two each of t(4;11) and t(9;22) cases and one pseudodiploid case; included in this group were the only two patients who did not receive intensive treatment. Both A-N cases had been pseudodiploid at diagnosis. Clonal evolution A-A+ occurred in patients who had had 47-49 chromosomes or pseudodiploidy at diagnosis and was mainly due to the addition of structural change. The additional abnormalities were different in each case. The only de novo appearance of a clone (N-A) was in host cells in relapse following bone marrow transplantation. Clonal evolution occurred in patients who had been intensively treated and who relapsed late; the median time from diagnosis to relapse studied for the A-A group was 6 months and for the A-A+ group was 24 months. Survival following relapse was shorter for patients who had had a clonal abnormality at any time (median 10 months) than for those with no abnormality at diagnosis or in relapse (median 26 months).

Adolescent↗

PubMed2005

High-sensitivity detection of BCR-ABL kinase domain mutations in imatinib-naive patients: correlation with clonal cytogenetic evolution but not response to therapy.

Mutations in the kinase domain (KD) of BCR-ABL are the leading cause of acquired imatinib resistance. In some cases, identical mutations were detected at relapse and in pretherapeutic specimens, consistent with selection of resistant clones in the presence of drug. However, the incidence of KD mutations in imatinibnaive patients, irrespective of response to therapy, is unknown. We studied mutation frequency in 66 patients with chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML), using cDNA sequencing and allele-specific oligonucleotide-polymerase chain reaction (ASO-PCR) assays for 8 common mutations. Thirteen patients were positive by ASO-PCR only, 1 by ASO-PCR and sequencing, and 1 by sequencing only (overall frequency, 22.7%). T315I was most frequent (12% of patients). Eleven of the 14 patients with positive ASO-PCR had follow-up samples available for sequencing. Wild-type sequence was detected in 6 of 11, 2 different mutations in 1 of 11, and identical mutations in 4 of 11 patients, 2 of whom had achieved major cytogenetic response. In multivariate analysis mutation detection was associated with clonal cytogenetic evolution, exposure to 6-Thioguanine, and a low platelet count, but not with response to imatinib, event-free survival, and overall survival. KD mutants present at low levels do not invariably lead to relapse, and additional factors are required to induce a fully drug-resistant phenotype.

Adult↗

PubMed1987

Cytogenetics and cell surface marker analysis in chronic myelocytic leukemia. II. Implications for patient management.

Chronic myelocytic leukemia (CML) is a model system for the study of many aspects of malignant disease. One aspect that correlates with decreasing therapeutic response is tumor progression. This progression is often accompanied by clonal evolution. In those cases where aggressive therapy does not prevent this evolution, the clinical response to therapy usually proves to be poor and of short duration. Investigators are concentrating their efforts in three primary, but not mutually exclusive, areas with respect to the clinical management of CML. These include: an attempt to distinguish patients at risk for early transformation from those who will have a prolonged chronic phase; the cryopreservation of autologous bone marrow or buffy coat early in chronic phase for subsequent use in the accelerated phase and; endeavors to identify early markers for disease progression allowing intervention before an irreversible blast crisis occurs. This report deals with two types of potential prognostic markers of transformation: chromosomal and cell surface characteristics. The appearance of nonrandom abnormal chromosomal patterns has been correlated with myeloblastic transformation by many investigators. However, there has always been a subset of CML patients who do not undergo clonal evolution. Additionally, the type(s) of transformation in CML may vary depending on the cell lineages involved. Unlike myeloblastic transformants, many of our patients who do not exhibit clonal evolution as a concomitance of disease progression develop a lymphoblastic transformation. Cytofluorometric analysis can distinguish small populations of abnormal cells with lymphoblastic characteristics (HLA DR+). Initial data suggests that patients expressing the HLA DR+ in their "normal" peripheral blood cells are at risk of undergoing lymphoblastic transformation. The combined use of clinical, cytogenetic, and cytofluorometric data to predict an impending transformation and to discriminate between myeloblastic and lymphoblastic populations allows clinicians to manage their patients more effectively.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1993

Long-term follow-up of residual disease in acute lymphoblastic leukemia patients in complete remission using clonogeneic IgH probes and the polymerase chain reaction.

We sequentially studied bone marrow (BM) samples of 25 patients in complete remission of an acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) using a simplified polymerase chain reaction (PCR) strategy (direct use of the PCR product as a clonogenic probe recognizing rearranged Ig heavy chain sequences) as a first approach. BM aspirates were serially investigated after obtention of a complete response. When sensitivity was less than 1:10(4), the PCR fragment was sequenced and a specific oligonucleotide was synthetized and used as a probe (five cases). Cases in which minimal residual disease (MRD) became undetectable were cross-controlled using either TCR delta rearrangement or a specific translocation to circumvent the problem of false-negative results arising from clonal evolution. The median follow-up was 30 months (3 to 51 months). Within the first 3 months of complete remission, MRD was detectable in 22 of 23 investigated patients and remained so in 19 of 21 patients examined at 6 months, regardless of the long-term clinical outcome. In patients remaining in complete remission at 30 months or more, two patterns of MRD emerged during the follow-up. Either it continuously decreased to ultimately become undetectable (five patients) or remained detectable (five patients) with an increase after discontinuation of treatment in two. In the eight patients who relapsed, MRD persisted throughout the clinical course, and eventually increased 3 to 12 months before relapse was clinically detectable. In one case, clonal evolution of the VDJ heavy chain region was observed and recurrence of MRD shown by the use of TCR delta rearrangement as a control. We conclude that the use of this simplified methodology is a valuable tool for the follow-up of MRD in a majority of ALL patients, though in a few cases, sequencing needs to be performed to achieve a relevant sensitivity. The possibility of clonal evolution requires a cross-control of any sample becoming negative whatever the initial rearrangement used to generate a probe. In patients on therapy, sequential search for MRD seems to be a good tool for predicting the long-term outcome. In addition, patients remaining positive at the time treatment is discontinued or with a high tumor burden after a few months therapy may be at a higher risk of subsequent relapse, although a longer follow-up is needed to answer this question.

Adolescent↗