1. Rearranged Ig Heavy Chain DNA Is Detectable in Cell-Free Blood Samples of Patients With B-Cell Neoplasia
by N. Frickhofen, E. Müller, M. Sandherr, T. Binder, M. Bangerter, C. Wiest, M. Enz, and H. Heimpel
Blood
Volume 90(12):
December 15, 1997
©1997 by American Society of Hematology

2. Detection of CDRIII DNA in the plasma of patients with B-cell malignancies.
Detection of CDRIII DNA in the plasma of patients with B-cell malignancies. (A) CDRIII DNA amplified from the plasma of eight representative patients with NHL, four patients with B-precursor ALL at diagnosis, and two healthy control subjects. PCR-products derived from diagnostic tumor material of one NHL patient (lymph node: LN*, lane 1) and one ALL patient (bone marrow: BM*, lane 10) are included for comparison. Positive β-globin bands show the presence of DNA in all samples. (B) Comparison of CDRIII DNA amplification products in tumor cell samples (T), plasma (P), and serum (S) from five representative patients (two ALL and three NHL). PCR products were cloned and DNA sequences were found to be identical in each patient (summarized in Table 1). Ethidium bromide stained polyacrylamide gels; MW indicates molecular weight markers.
N. Frickhofen et al. Blood 1997;90:
©1997 by American Society of Hematology

3. Stability of DNA in plasma and serum.
Stability of DNA in plasma and serum. Blood of a normal volunteer was taken into tubes, previously spiked with plasmid DNA (pGEM7Zf+) to final concentrations as indicated. Serum or plasma was isolated immediately or after 3 hours of storage at room temperature. DNA was extracted, run on a 2% agarose gel, and stained with ethidium bromide. DNA in plasma is stable whereas DNA in serum is rapidly degraded. Arrows indicate intact plasmid DNA bands.
N. Frickhofen et al. Blood 1997;90:
©1997 by American Society of Hematology

4. Clinical course and follow-up of clonotypic CDRIII DNA in the plasma of a patient with mantle cell lymphoma (patient no. 1,293, A) and a patient with centroblastic lymphoma (patient no. 581, B).
Clinical course and follow-up of clonotypic CDRIII DNA in the plasma of a patient with mantle cell lymphoma (patient no. 1,293, A) and a patient with centroblastic lymphoma (patient no. 581, B). The clinical course is indicated as active disease (solid bar), partial remission (grey bar), and complete remission (open bar). Treatment periods are indicated by boxes (CHOP, high-dose BCNU, etoposide, cytarabine, and melphalan [BEAM], followed by autologous peripheral blood stem cell transplantation, and methotrexate [MTX] and prednisone). Plasma was analyzed at diagnosis (DX ) and on five occasions during follow-up, given in weeks. Clinical response to high-dose chemotherapy, but not to standard CHOP treatment is paralleled by loss of detectable CDRIII DNA in the plasma. MW indicates molecular weight markers.
N. Frickhofen et al. Blood 1997;90:
©1997 by American Society of Hematology

5. Long-term follow-up of clonotypic CDRIII-DNA in serum or plasma.
Long-term follow-up of clonotypic CDRIII-DNA in serum or plasma. Data from patients with NHL (n = 5) and ALL (n = 5) who did or did not relapse (5 patients each in the upper and lower panel). The patients shown in Fig 3 are included with longer follow-up. Clinically active disease and partial remission are depicted as solid bars and complete clinical remission is indicated by open bars. Molecular follow-up is shown above the clinical data: Serum or plasma was either positive (▾) or negative (○) for clonotypic CDRIII-DNA by PCR. ib, immunoblastic lymphoma; cb, centroblasic lymphoma; mc, mantle cell lymphoma; cALL, common ALL; B-ALL, surface immunoglobulin-positive B-cell ALL; lb, lymphoblastic lymphoma.
N. Frickhofen et al. Blood 1997;90:
©1997 by American Society of Hematology