Minimal Residual Disease in Patients With Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia Undergoing Long-term Treatment With Recombinant Interferon a-2 b Alone or in Combination With Interferon
Interferon (IFN) therapy has become widely used for the treatment of chronic myelogenous leukemia. Hematologic remissions can be induced in about 60% of patients. Moreover, in a small number of patients loss of the Philadelphia (Ph) chromosome and of the BCR-ABL rearrangement is observed. We have used genomic Southern blotting as well as a two-step polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method to score for BCR-ABL messenger RNA (mRNA) in patients with hematologic remission induced by treatment with IFNa-2b alone or in combination with IFNy. Concomitantly, cytogenetic analysis was performed. In 11 of 115 patients reported here, a complete loss of rearranged BCR fragments was observed in Southern blots of peripheral blood (PB) and/or