Detection of Minimal Residual Disease in Autologous Grafts

Abstract

There is increasing evidence that the presence of tumor cells within autologous hematopoietic cell grafts may increase the risk of relapse of disease post-transplant. The sensitive detection of minimal residual disease is therefore central to improving the outcome of autologous transplantation, irrespective of the source of the graft. This review presents a comparative evaluation of the sensitivity and specificity of the currently available methods for tumor detection.