Sex chromosome changes after sex-mismatched allogeneic bone marrow transplantation can mislead the chimerism analysis

Donát Alpár, Gergely Nagy, Carsten Hohoff, Béla Kajtár, Katalin Bartyik, Judit Hermesz, Pál Jáksó, Hajnalka Andrikovics, László Kereskai, László Pajor

A 12-year-old male with pre-B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia with cryptic BCR/ABL rearrangement underwent sex-mismatched allogeneic bone marrow transplantation (allo-BMT). Contradictory results were provided by various chimerism analyses 3 months later. Y-chromosome-specific quantitative polymerase chain reaction and sex chromosome-specific interphase fluorescence in situ hybridization (i-FISH) showed complete donor chimerism. Analysis of autosomal short tandem repeats (A-STR), BCR/ABL i-FISH test, and X-STR haplotype indicated relapse. Metaphase-FISH and combined BCR/ABL and sex chromosome-specific i-FISH patterns revealed loss of the Y-chromosome and duplication of the X-chromosome in the host cells. Sex chromosome changes after allo-BMT can cause significant difficulties in chimerism analysis.