Detection of Immunoglobulin Heavy Chain Gene Clonality By High-Throughput Sequencing for Minimal Residual Disease Monitoring in Chronic Lymphocytic Leukaemia

Introduction: The negative minimal residual disease (MRD) after treatment has been recently accepted as endpoint for Chronic Lymphocytic Leukaemia (CLL) clinical trials. Conventionally, MRD can be detected by using multi-color Flow Cytometry (FC) with high sensitivity. Determination of the clonal immunoglobulin gene rearrangement can be a useful monitoring marker in a broad range of B-cell lymphoproliferative neoplasms. Moreover, the mutational status of immunoglobulin heavy chain variable (IgHV) rearrangement is considered one of the most important prognostic factors in CLL. Therefore, the identification of the IgHV rearrangement can be a useful marker both at diagnostic and as monitoring …