Chromoprobe Multiprobe® - AML/MDS System

Prognosis and Disease Management

The Chromoprobe Multiprobe AML/MDS Panel has been designed to provide as much information about the patient’s genotype as possible using FISH probes applied to a single slide in a single hybridisation experiment.

Cytogenetic abnormalities are found in 30-50% and 60% of MDS and AML cases respectively (Patsouris et al 2002). Cytocell’s Chromoprobe Multiprobe AML/MDS Panel has been designed to detect the most common rearrangements in these myeloid disorders. In addition, in common with the ALL and CLL panels, the panel strategy has been developed to give the maximum amount of information from cells at interphase and in some cases is capable of detecting chromosome rearrangements that are undetectable using standard cytogenetics.

The presence of specific chromosomal abnormalities detected by FISH or conventional cytogenetics may determine patient management including diagnosis or confirmation of diagnosis, treatment and prognosis. FISH techniques have been shown to be more effective than conventional cytogenetics as a large number of cells can be screened for targeted probes.

In AML and MDS the importance of karyotypic abnormalities as predictors of clinical outcome has been known for several decades. For example, in Acute Promyelocytic Leukaemia, French-American- British (FAB) subgroup M3, early definitive diagnosis is essential so that all-trans-retinoic-acid can be given in the first stages of the disease where it is effective (Heim, 1995, Loeb and Arceci 2002).

The Cytocell AML/MDS panel has been designed to aid in detection of these chromosomal aberrations, thereby providing critical information for diagnosis and prognosis. The product can also be used to monitor the course of the disease by detecting remission, relapse, disease progression, BMT success, secondary leukaemia and Minimal Residual Disease (MRD).