Donor lymphocyte infusion induced molecular remission in relapse of acute myeloid leukaemia after allogeneic bone marrow transplantation

Donor lymphocyte infusion (DLI) has been used successfully to induce remissions in relapse of acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) after bone marrow transplantation (BMT), but molecular eradication of leukaemia has rarely been documented. A patient with AML-M4Eo relapsed after HLA-identical sibling BMT in first complete remission (CR). Cytogenetic and molecular genetic investigations confirmed inv(16) and CBFβ/MYH11 fusion characteristic of M4Eo. A second remission was obtained with chemotherapy. Full donor chimerism was demonstrated by fluorescence in situhybridisation. However, molecular evidence of minimal residual disease still persisted, and donor lymphocyte infusion (DLI) was administered. This resulted in molecular eradication, and the patient remained in clinical and molecular remission 16 months from DLI. Our observations showed that, for AML relapse after BMT, molecular leukaemia eradication could be achieved by DLI so that, in cases where genetic markers are available, molecular monitoring should be performed to assess the efficacy of treatment.