Quantification of Bcr-Abl transcripts in chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) using standardized, internally controlled, competitive differential PCR (CD-PCR)

The quantification of Bcr-Abl transcript numbers in chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) patients described here uses simultaneous competitive PCR amplification of the target gene (Bcr-Abl) and a reference gene (porphobilinogen deaminase; Pbgd) together with a single composite competitor molecule for both targets based on heterologous sequences. Using this technique, Bcr-Abl transcript numbers could be reproducibly determined even in clinical samples known to harbour poor quality RNA.