The evaluation of three digital PCR platforms for residual disease in chronic myeloid leukemia

Thursday, October 13, 2016, 5 pm CEST

Mary Alikian, Ph.D., Imperial Molecular Pathology laboratory and the Department of Haematology at Hammersmith Hospital, Imperial College London

The BCR-ABL1 fusion gene sequence is used to help diagnose and monitor treatment and recurrence for chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML). In fact, between 90-95% of diagnosed CML cases are BCR-ABL1-positive. While reverse transcription quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR) is the gold standard strategy for monitoring BCR-ABL1 transcripts, there can often be challenges with reproducibility due to the technology and workflow. Reverse-Transcription Digital PCR (RT-dPCR) is an adaptation of this method that could provide the robust and standardized workflow needed for patient stratification. In this webinar, Dr. Mary Alikian at Hammersmith Hospital, Imperial College London, discussed her team’s comparison of three different available dPCR platforms (ThermoFisher Scientific’s QuantStudio 3D System, Bio-Rad’s QX200 System and RainDance’s RainDrop System) and investigation of whether they could be applied to a clinical research setting to quantify BCR-ABL1 transcripts in CML patients. The team determined that only the RainDrop System was able to detect and quantitatively measure BCR-ABL1 transcripts in the <0.001% range at a level higher than the false positive rate in the control patient groups.

Register now