A Novel Tandem Duplication Assay to Detect Minimal Residual Disease in FLT3/ITD AML

摘要

Internal tandem duplication (ITD) of the fms-related tyrosine kinase 3 (FLT3) gene is associated with a poor prognosis in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) patients with a normal karyotype. The current standard polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay for FLT3/ITD detection is not sufficiently sensitive to monitor minimal residual disease (MRD). Clone-specific assays may have sufficient sensitivity but are not practical to implement, since each clone-specific primer/probe requires clinical validation.