ELDA qASO-PCR for High Sensitivity Detection of Tumor Cells in Bone Marrow and Peripheral Blood.

A quantitative allele-specific polymerase chain reaction in combination with an extreme limiting dilution approach (ELDA qASO-PCR) enables the detection of tumor cells in patients with multiple myeloma (MM) in bone marrow (BM) samples and in peripheral blood (PB) with a sensitivity of <10. The two-step procedure of patient-specific tumor cell identification via the immunoglobulin heavy chain (IgH) and kappa/lambda light chain (k/λ LC) locus, followed by tumor cells quantification by ELDA qASO-PCR allows for the application of this method to the majority of MM patients, including those with Bence Jones proteinuria.