Hematopoietic recovery from host progenitors with normal karyotype devoid of Philadelphia chromosome in a patient with CML after allogeneic BMT.

A male patient with CML received a BMT from his sister and developed chronic GVHD. The host-origin normal karyotype (46,XY) was identified for the first time in the 60th month after BMT. Detection of Y-chromosome-specific DNA in BM and peripheral blood (PB) showed that all BM samples obtained 6 months from BMT were positive for Y-specific DNA, while PB became positive in the 60th month after BMT. The BCR-ABL mRNA derived from leukemic cells was detected in the 36th month post-BMT, but not in the 60th month or thereafter. Fluorescence in situ hybridization revealed that 1.5% and 0.6% in BM and PB cells were Y-positive in the 70th month post-BMT, respectively. DNA analysis of hematopoietic progenitor colonies revealed 1 of 42 erythroid colonies to be host derived. These results indicate that host-origin hematopoietic cells survive chronic GVHD, while the Ph1 clone was eliminated.