Clinical Information

Patients who have had donor hematopoietic cells infused for the purpose of engraftment (ie, bone marrow transplant recipients) may have their blood or bone marrow monitored for an estimate of the percentage of donor and recipient cells present. This can be done by identifying unique features of the donor's and the recipient's DNA prior to transplantation and then examining the recipient's blood or bone marrow after the transplantation procedure has occurred. The presence of both donor and recipient cells (chimerism) and the percentage of donor cells are indicators of transplant success.

Short tandem repeat (STR) sequences are used as identity markers. STR are di-, tri-, or tetra-nucleotide repeat sequences interspersed throughout the genome at specific sites. There is variability in STR length among people, and the STR lengths remain stable throughout life, making them useful as identity markers. Polymerase chain reaction is used to amplify selected STR regions from germline DNA of both donor and recipient. The lengths of the amplified fragment are evaluated for differences (informative markers). Following allogeneic hematopoietic cell infusion, the recipient blood or bone marrow can be evaluated again for the informative STR regions to identify chimerism and estimate the proportions of donor and recipient cells in the specimen.