Chimerism as an important marker in post-transplant monitoring chimerism monitoring.

Abstract

Cell chimerism determination is important for the monitoring of engraftment dynamics and for relapse prediction. Our cohort of 474 patients was divided into two groups according to the determination methods used over time, and by their chimerism status. A significant difference in survival was observed between mixed vs complete chimerism (P < 0.0001 vs P < 0.0002) in both patient groups, and also vs microchimerism (P = 0.0201) in the second group. Detection of mixed chimerism is thus a high-risk factor, and microchimerism is potentially a risk factor in the post-transplantation course. Methods with a high sensitivity for monitoring cell chimerism significantly improve the assessment of patients post-transplant, and they enable the identification of patients with high relapse risk. Supported by MH CZ-DRO (00023736, UHKT).