The present invention belongs to the field of diagnosis of disease. Thus the present invention is focused on a method and kit for quantifying the level of minimal residual disease (MRD) in a subject who has been treated for said disease, which comprises:
(a) identifying, amplifying and sequencing a nucleotide sequence in a biological sample obtained from said subject after treatment for said disease, wherein the gDNA of said biological sample has an average weight, k, per cell, and wherein said nucleotide sequence is identified using primers and is amplified using an amount, D, to afford a first list of characters;
(b) identifying, amplifying and sequencing a nucleotide sequence in a biological sample obtained from a subject with said disease using the same primers as in step (a) to afford a second list of characters;
(c) determining, for each first list of characters obtained in step (a), the degree of similarity, DS, with each second list of characters obtained in step (b);
(d) selecting, for each first list of characters obtained in step (a), the DS of highest value, DSHV;
(e) adding up the number of first lists of characters obtained in step (a) which have a DSHV that is greater than a threshold value, T, to obtain Lc;
(f) adding up the total number of lists of characters, Lt, in the first list of characters; and
(g) calculating the level of minimal residual disease (MRD) according to either of the following formulae:
MRD=(Lc×k)/(Lt×D)
or
MRD=Lc×(D/k)/Lt2.