Detection of c-kit point mutation Asp-816 → Val in microdissected pooled single mast cells and leukemic cells in a patient with systemic mastocytosis and concomitant chronic myelomonocytic leukemia

The c-kit mutation Asp-816 --> Val is detectable not only in neoplastic mast cells (MCs) in patients with systemic mastocytosis (SM) but also in most associated hematologic non-MC lineage disease (AHNMD). In order to prove a monoclonal disease evolution we investigated DNA of pooled microdissected single cells for the presence of the mutation in a patient with SM and concomitant chronic myelomonocytic leukemia (CMML). LightCycler melting curve analysis and direct sequencing of nested polymerase chain reaction (PCR) products revealed the c-kit mutation in tryptase-positive MC and in leukemic CD15-positive cells in bone marrow infiltrates, but not in colonic epithelial cells, thus, suggesting a monoclonal evolution of SM and concurrent CMML on the basis of a somatic mutation in a common hematologic progenitor. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.