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Cited by 36Hematopoietic Stem Cell TransplantationRenal Transplantation Outcomes and TreatmentsImmunodeficiency and Autoimmune Disorders

Short Tandem Repeats (STRs) as Biomarkers for the Quantitative Follow-Up of Chimerism after Stem Cell Transplantation: Methodological Considerations and Clinical Application

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Navarro-Bailón, Almudena, Carbonell, Diego, Escudero, Asunción, Chicano, María, Muñiz, Paula, Suárez-González, Julia, Bailén, Rebeca, Oarbeascoa, Gillen +4 more·2020·Genes
DOI 10.3390/genes11090993PMC PMC7565503
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Abstract

Chimerism refers to the relative proportion of donor and recipient DNA after hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) and its quantitative follow-up is of great clinical utility in this setting. PCR of short tandem repeats (STR-PCR) constitutes the gold standard method for chimerism quantification, although more sensitive PCR techniques (such as qPCR) have recently arisen. We compared the sensitivity and the quantification capacity of both techniques in patient samples and artificial mixtures and demonstrated adequate performance of both methods, with higher sensitivity of qPCR and better quantification skills of STR-PCR. By qPCR, we then prospectively followed up 57 patients that were in complete chimerism (CC) by STR-PCR. Twenty-seven patients (59%) showed 0.1–1% recipient DNA in the bone marrow. Only 4 patients presented 0.1–1% recipient DNA in peripheral blood (PB), and one of them relapsed. Finally, by qPCR, we retrospectively studied the last sample that showed CC by STR-PCR prior to relapse in 8 relapsed patients. At a median of 59 days prior to relapse, six patients presented mixed chimerism by qPCR in PB. Since both approaches have complementary characteristics, we conclude that different techniques should be applied in different clinical settings and therefore propose a methodological algorithm for chimerism follow-up after HSCT.

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  • A meaningful STR test including the electrophoretic profile typically costs around $100-200, while consumable costs are about $40 for baseline STR genotyping.

    “currently, companies provide a meaningful STR test, including the electrophoretic profile, typically costing around $100–200, while the consumable costs are about $40 for base line STR genotyping [15,138,139].”

    From Genetic Insights into the Economic Toll of Cell Line Misidentification: A Comprehensive Review (2026) · cites this paper as [138]

    Section 4.1 reports that STR-PCR requires capillary electrophoresis and costs about €35 per post-transplant follow-up sample. It does not report a $100–200 commercial test price or $40 in consumables for baseline genotyping; instead, it estimates pretransplant screening at about €70 per donor–recipient pair. No page number is available in our copy. (LLM, conf=0.84)

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Authors
Navarro-Bailón, A., Carbonell, D., Escudero, A., Chicano, M., Muñiz, P., Suárez-González, J., Bailén, R., Oarbeascoa, G., Kwon, M., Díez-Martín, J. L., Martínez-Laperche, C., & Buño, I.
Affiliations
  • Department of Hematology, Hospital General Universitario Gregorio Marañón, 28007 Madrid, Spain
  • Hospital General Universitario Gregorio Marañón (ES)
  • Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria Gregorio Marañón, IiSGM, 28007 Madrid, Spain
  • Universidad Complutense de Madrid (ES)
Corresponding author
Buño, Ismael
ORCID
Venue
Genes
Publisher
MDPI AG
Published
2020-08-25
Volume
11
Issue
9
Pages
993
ISSN
2073-4425 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.3390/genes11090993
PMC
PMC7565503
OpenAlex
W3080544179
Cited by
36
References
1
Citations by year
2026: 5 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 7 · 2023: 6 · 2022: 9 · 2021: 4
FWCI
3.00
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Genes (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
Funders
Instituto de Salud Carlos III (PI17/1880)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Hematology › Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Transplantation › Renal Transplantation Outcomes and Treatments
  • Life Sciences › Immunology and Microbiology › Immunology › Immunodeficiency and Autoimmune Disorders
Keywords
chimerism, microsatellite markers, hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, qPCR, complete chimerism, mixed chimerism, relapse detection, bone marrow, peripheral blood
MeSH terms
Adolescent, Adult, Bone Marrow, Child, DNA, Female, Follow-Up Studies, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Recurrence, Retrospective Studies, Biomarkers, Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation, Microsatellite Repeats, Chimerism, Young Adult, Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction

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