2003 EuroClonality/BIOMED-2 publication referred to as “A landmark publication shaping hemato-oncology.”

March 2, 2026

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In the recent, Jubilee Issue of Leukemia (Dec 2025), the work of the EuroClonality consortium is brought into the spotlight. In an Editorial, Andreas Hochhaus and Robert Peter Gale reflect on 40 years of scientific publications and highlight fourteen of the most cited and influential articles in the magazine.

Among them is the BIOMED-2 PCR standardization study, a publication by Jacques van Dongen, Ton Langerak, Monika Brüggemann, Paul Evans, Michael Hummel, and colleagues, titled Design and standardization of PCR primers and protocols for detection of clonal immunoglobulin and T-cell receptor gene recombinations in suspect lymphoproliferations: report of the BIOMED-2 Concerted Action BMH4-CT98-3936.

Published in 2003, this seminal paper has since been cited over 3800 times. “A landmark publication shaping hemato-oncology”. After more than 22 years after its publication, the BIOMED-2 multiplex PCR assays and protocols are still regarded as the gold standard in clonality testing — after 30 years of collaboration an achievement of which EuroClonality can remain justifiably proud.