[The clinical potential of measurable residual disease in hematological malignancies].

In recent years, there have been remarkable improvements in the treatment of hematological malignancies with the introduction of novel therapeutic modalities. The advent of these therapies has made it feasible to significantly and permanently decrease (possibly eradicate) tumor cells in the body. Evaluating the effectiveness of these treatments required the development of a new diagnostic method.

Digital PCR-based quantification of miR-181a in the cerebrospinal fluid aids patient stratification in pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

Despite remarkable improvements in the survival of pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), sensitive detection and clinical management of central nervous system leukemia (CNSL) are still immensely challenging. Blast cells residing in the CNS but not circulating in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) remain undetected by current diagnostic methods, preventing a truly risk-adapted anti-leukemic treatment in this compartment. We examined the clinical applicability of the molecular marker microRNA (miR)-181a quantified in the cell-free CSF to evaluate the level of CNS involvement and to optimize patient stratification based on CNS status.

Investigating the effect of immunomagnetic separation on the immunophenotype and viability of plasma cells in plasma cell disorders.

Plasma cell enrichment plays a pivotal role in the accurate prognosis and molecular characterization of multiple myeloma. The separation is commonly carried out by positive cell selection using CD138 monoclonal antibody conjugated to magnetic beads. Optimally, during the separation procedure, the cells should neither be damaged, nor should their phenotype be significantly altered, as these changes would falsify the results if the isolated cells were subsequently used.

The significance of CD49f expression in pediatric B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

Objectives: CD49f is an adhesion molecule present on malignant lymphoblasts in B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia; it is associated with a poor prognosis. CD49f expression has been proposed as a marker for measurable residual disease (MRD) marker, but this marker has yet to be implemented in clinical practice.

Methods: In this study, we used flow cytometry to detect CD49f expression by leukemic blasts in paired bone marrow and cerebrospinal fluid samples at diagnosis and bone marrow at day 15 of treatment.