Metaphase fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) in the follow-up of 60 patients with haemopoietic malignancies

• Published in: British journal of haematology Vol. 88; no. 4; p. 778
• Main Authors: Nylund, S J, Ruutu, T, Saarinen, U, Knuutila, S
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England 01-12-1994
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Aged; Anemia, Refractory - genetics; Anemia, Refractory - therapy; Child; Chromosome Aberrations; Female; Follow-Up Studies; Humans; In Situ Hybridization, Fluorescence; Leukemia - genetics; Leukemia - therapy; Lymphoma, Non-Hodgkin - genetics; Lymphoma, Non-Hodgkin - therapy; Male; Metaphase; Middle Aged; Neoplasm, Residual; Remission Induction; Translocation, Genetic; Trisomy
• ISSN: 0007-1048
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2141.1994.tb05117.x

Metaphase DNA fluorescence in situ hybridization (metaphase-FISH) was performed on follow-up samples from 60 patients suffering from haemopoietic malignancies (acute and chronic myeloid leukaemia, acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and myelodysplastic syndrome). All patients had clonal chromosomal trisomies or translocations at diagnosis, and were treated by bone marrow transplantation (BMT), chemotherapy (CT) or interferon-alpha therapy. Metaphase-FISH was performed during therapy-induced complete haematological remission (CR) (BMT and CT patients) using biotin-labelled whole chromosome paint probes. 28% of all patients in CR were shown by FISH to have abnormal metaphase cells, and 62% of this group suffered a clinical relapse. Of those with negative FISH results (72%), 12% relapsed. In three CML patients treated with BMT a small population of t(9;22)-positive cells was demonstrated. These cells disappeared during follow-up without causing a relapse. One ALL patient had abnormal cells a short time after start of therapy but was also later found FISH-negative. Furthermore, we demonstrated that metaphase-FISH is a suitable method for quantifying the proportion of abnormal cells in CML patients during interferon-alpha therapy. Metaphase-FISH was also employed to detect a local relapse in an ALL patient. Thus, metaphase-FISH was found reliable and sensitive for detection of minimal residual disease in patients with haemopoietic malignancies.