Paired analysis of PML-RARα NQs from 140 simultaneously obtained, evaluable BM and PB samples from INT0129 patients.
Values obtained by dividing PML-RARα copy number by GAPDH copy number for BM (abscissa) and PB (ordinate) are co-plotted on a log10 scale marked by negative exponents. Values below 10−10 were derived from samples in which PML-RARα was undetectable. To be evaluable, both BM and PB samples had to have a GAPDH copy number exceeding 2.5 × 105. Concordance of BM and PB values is indicated by coincident values on the diagonal, and the magnitude of discordance is indicated by the distance from the diagonal. The large diamond represents 27 BM-PB pairs in which evaluable samples from each were NQ−. Thirty-eight NQ+ pairs were also concordant on the diagonal, while 35 pairs disagreed by 1 log (21 with PB lower than BM; 14 with BM lower than PB); 14 pairs by 2 logs (8 with PB lower than BM; 6 with BM lower than PB); and 4 pairs by 3 logs (4 with PB lower than BM). In 9 comparisons, BM was positive and PB negative, while in 13 comparisons PB was positive and BM negative. The overall discordance was 42 pairs with BM greater than PB, and 33 with PB greater than BM. Neg indicates negative.
