Droplet digital PCR improves minimal residual disease monitoring in mature lymphoid tumors

• Authors: DRANDI Daniela; BEŠŠE Lenka; FERRERO Simone; PASSERA Roberto; MANTOAN Barbara; MONITILLO Luigia; GAMBELLA Manuela; OMEDE Paola; HÁJEK Roman; VITOLO Umberto; PALUMBO Antonio; CORTELAZZO Sergio; BOCCADORO Mario; INGHIRAMI Giorgio; LADETTO Marco
• Year of publication: 2014
• Type: Appeared in Conference without Proceedings
• MU Faculty or unit: Faculty of Medicine
• Description: Minimal residual disease (MRD) detection allowed acquisition of valuable prognostic information in several mature lymphoid disorders with a considerable impact on clinical research (Ferrero S. 2011, Pott C. 2010). Although different methods can be used for MRD quantification, including flow cytometry (FC), real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) remains the most validated and standardized method (Ladetto M. 2013, Pott C. 2011). However, despite remarkable sensitivity and specificity, qPCR has some drawbacks mainly related to the need for a reference standard curve, performed by target serial dilutions. The introduction of droplet digital PCR (ddPCR) has allowed to overcome this limitation, since its absolute quantification competence allows to avoid the need for a reference standard curve. Based on these considerations, we sought to verify the utility of ddPCR as a MRD monitoring tool and to verify whether ddPCR could overcome some qPCR limitations without mislay its critical advantages. We compared the two approaches, in the context of MRD evaluation, in multiple myeloma (MM), mantle cell lymphoma (MCL), and follicular lymphoma (FL) patients enrolled in prospective clinical trials and selected for having the immunoglobuline gene (IGH) (MM and MCL) or Bcl-2/MBR (FL) molecular marker at diagnosis.