New Approaches in TransplantationBone marrow and cell transplantationUsefulness of Post-Transplant Hematopoietic Chimera Monitoring by Use of the Quantitative Fluorescence Polymerase Chain Reaction Method

- The QF-PCR method remains the gold standard for chimerism analysis; it is a common and reliable tool for qualitative hematopoietic chimerism assessment.
- The ready-to-use AmpFISTR SGMPlus kit, used in this study, was convenient, effective, and quite fast.
- The chimerism monitoring the frequency and regularity of assays is more important than the high sensitivity of the method.

BackgroundIn the light of an increasing number of hematopoietic stem cell transplantations and more frequent use of reduced-intensity conditioning as preparative regimens for hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, post-transplant cell chimera monitoring is considered a necessity.MethodsThe quantitative fluorescence polymerase chain reaction method, along with the commercial AmpFSTR SGMPlus kit, was applied in research on hematopoietic chimeras.ResultsThe total of 102 patients who had undergone allogenic transplantations were investigated. Chimerism monitoring was commenced on the seventh day after transplantation and lasted up to 12 years in some cases, according to the instituted schedule.ConclusionsThe kit has been shown to be fully sufficient for determining genetic profiles of recipients and donors and selecting informative markers. The method has been proven effective and satisfactory for assessing quantitative chimeras.