Manifold-assisted reverse transcription-PCR with real-time detection for measurement of the BCR-ABL fusion transcript in chronic myeloid leukemia patients.

BACKGROUND BCR-ABL fusion mRNA expression in bone marrow or peripheral blood can be used as a measure of minimal residual disease in patients with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML). METHODS We used an oligo(dT)-coated manifold support to capture the mRNA directly from the cell lysate. After reverse transcription, the cDNA was eluted from the manifold support, and BCR-ABL and GAPDH mRNAs were quantified in real time using the TaqMan fluorogenic detection system. RESULTS The detection limit of the method was one positive K562 cell among 10(5) negative cells. GAPDH was chosen as a reference gene based on the low variation between samples from different stages of the disease and the low signal in the absence of reverse transcription. The day-to-day variation of the method (CV) was 32%. In 43 blood samples from 13 CML patients, mRNA quantification agreed well with cytogenetic data. CONCLUSIONS The proposed procedure constitutes a reproducible and sensitive BCR-ABL mRNA quantification method and is suitable to monitor minimal residual disease in CML patients.