Minimal residual disease in patients with chronic myelogenous leukemia undergoing long-term treatment with recombinant interferon alpha-2b alone or in combination with interferon gamma.

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 IFN alpha-2b alone or in combination with IFN gamma. 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 bone marrow (BM) cell samples. Malignant marker bands disappeared first in the PB. In six patients, this genotype remained stable, whereas in five patients, low-intensity, rearranged bands reappeared despite continuation of treatment. The reappearance of the malignant marker was not accompanied by a clinical relapse. Ph-negative metaphases were observed in PB cells of four patients and in the PB and BM cells of two of these patients. In the samples of the other patients, residual Ph-positive cells were detected. By two-step PCR, residual BCR-ABL rearranged transcripts were found in samples of 10 patients.