Chimerism Testing by Quantitative PCR Using Indel Markers

Engraftment monitoring is critical for patients after Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation (HSCT). Complete donor chimerism is the goal; therefore, early detection of rejection and relapse is crucial for guiding the patient post HSCT treatment. Quantitative PCR for chimerism testing has been reported to be highly sensitive. In this chapter we discuss the quantitative PCR (qPCR) method using 34 Indel (Insertion and Deletion) genetic markers spread over 20 different chromosomes.