Evaluation of chimerism in DNA samples by PCR amplification of D1S80 with detection by capillary electrophoresis

Background: Analysis of the relative amounts of donor and recipient DNA in bone marrow after bone marrow transplantation is frequently used to determine the status of the transplant. We studied the performance of an assay to quantify chimerism based on amplification of the D1S80 variable number tandem repeat marker by PCR with detection of PCR products by capillary electrophoresis (CE). Methods and Results: Samples from potential bone marrow donors and recipients were analyzed separately and in mixtures to simulate various degrees of chimerism from 10% to 90% and subjected to PCR/CE analysis. There was excellent agreement between the measured and known relative proportions of DNA components in chimeric samples. The lower limit of sensitivity for detection of chimerism was 1%; between-runs coefficients of variation were <5%. Conclusions: Amplification of the D1S80 minisatellite by PCR with CE detection is a reliable method for determination of the relative contribution of different DNAs in mixed samples. This method is fast, quantitative, and extremely reproducible.