Autologous Bone Marrow Transplantation - Blog Science Connections

Detecting Residual Disease in Bone Marrow 175
truly specific immunologic tool of the tumor cell would be obtained. The study
of a mutation at the DNA level of an oncogene shows high sensitivity when
detecting residual disease, but its threshold of detection still remains to be
determined. The identification of RNA transcripts by in situ hybridization would
allow a considerable increase in sensitivity and specificity of detection methods.
Systems of Image Analyzers
More or less automated systems of image analyzers linked to data
processing allow detection and cytological analysis of isolated cells that an
ordinary microscope does not. One abnormal cell among 10 6
normal ones can
be detected with a multiparametric microscope adapted to the search for rare
occurrences (using a wide-angle lens, for example) and relayed to a computer.
The principle is that by computerizing specific characteristics of the tumor cell
(size, density, fluorescence, enzymatic activity, chromatin structure, for example)
one may compare all the sample cells with it.
APPLICATION OF TECHNIQUES
The application of these techniques has been assessed in different
malignant diseases in which marrow involvement is either frequent or constant
(medullary micrometastasis of some solid tumors). The following malignant
diseases were topics of discussion in relation to these techniques at recent local
and national French meetings: neuroblastoma, small cell lung cancer, non-
Hodgkin's malignant lymphoma, and acute lymphoid and nonlymphoid
leukemia (1).
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