Prognostic Relevance of Minimal Residual Diseases (Project F)

Author: Dr. med. Ralf Herold, Last modification: 2007/09/27

Prognostic Relevance of Minimal Rest Disease in Children with Acute Leukemia and Malignant Lymphoma

Acute leukemia and the malignant non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) make up 48% of all cancers in children. Improvements of analytical methods, especially on the field of molecular genetics and immunology, enable us to detect a single leukemia cell in a collective of up to a million. Nevertheless, no reliable information exists about the speed of elimination and the time needed for a complete disappearance of malignant cells from the bone marrow. The relevance of so called minimal residual diseases for an early recognition of relapses and for decision about the therapy is examined with molecular biological methods by use of quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RQ-PCR) and multiparametric immunophenotypisation. Prospective studies help to find methods and moments best suited for diagnostic procedures. They also serve the clinical studies as a high resolution control instrument during and after treatment.

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