Diagnostic use of molecular probes before and after marrow transplantation

The application of molecular techniques to disease diagnosis and histocompatibility testing before marrow transplantation and to the evaluation of engraftment and immune reconstitution, and to the identification of infectious and neoplastic complications following transplantation has revolutionized the approach to the care of marrow transplant patients. The techniques of restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis using informative restriction enzymes, the Southern blot technique, and of polymerase chain reaction-amplified DNA and oligonucleotide probe hybridization methods now enable the study of donor and host cells at the nucleotide level.