Detection of messenger RNA in leukocytes or plasma of patients with chronic myeloid leukemia.

We investigated the presence of free mRNA in the plasma of patients with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML), through RT-PCR analysis of G3PDH, a metabolism gene. We also analysed the presence of mRNA for HLM, a human oxysterol-binding protein homologue recently described as a potential marker for blood dissemination of solid tumors. Our results showed the presence of metabolism G3PDH mRNA in the plasma of 5/11 (45%) CML patients studied but HLM mRNA was not detected in any of the plasma studied. HLM mRNA was detected in the leukocytes of 4/5 (80%) CML patients. This work reports for the first time free mRNA in the plasma of CML patients. Our results also suggest that the detection of HLM could be a potential molecular marker for the follow-up in hematological malignancies.