Informativeness of VNTR genetic markers for detecting chimerism after bone marrow transplantation

We tested the feasibility and practicability of using VNTR-type DNA genetic markers to identify chimerism in the bone marrow of patients following bone marrow transplantation. We selected eight probes which were highly polymorphic when hybridized to DNA digested with MspI. In over 50 donor-recipient combinations, autoradiograms of Southern blots yielded patterns which allowed donor DNA to be distinguished from recipient DNA after an average of two or three serial hybridizations. The strong hybridization signal of VNTR probes also made it possible to detect as little as 1 per cent DNA in DNA mixing experiments.