[Use of polymerase chain reaction for determining bcr/abl mRNA in human chronic myeloleukemia].

A modified system with two pairs of primers is suggested for the analysis of different bcr/abl mRNA variants, using the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method. It was demonstrated that, with the use of this method, mRNA preparations obtained from bone marrow cells are more informative than those obtained from blood cells. Fresh preparations of thermostable Tth DNA polymerase, which exhibited the reverse transcriptase activity, appeared to be optimal for PCR analysis of the bcr/abl mRNA pattern.