FREE NEJM E-TOC    HOME   |   SUBSCRIBE   |   CURRENT ISSUE   |   PAST ISSUES   |   COLLECTIONS   |   Search Term  Advanced Search

Sign in | Get NEJM's E-Mail Table of Contents — Free | Subscribe

Previous Volume 322:664-668 March 8, 1990 Number 10 Next

	Add to Personal Archive Add to Citation Manager Notify a Friend E-mail When Cited PubMed Citation

Abstract

Multiple myeloma is considered a cancer of mature plasma cells. Recent studies, however, suggest the possible involvement of early B cells and the expression of myelomonocytic antigens by myeloma cells. Using flow cytometry, we searched for evidence of the expression of genes specific for different hematopoietic lineages by tumor cells in bone marrow aspirates from 27 patients with aneuploid multiple myeloma. In addition to features characteristic of myeloma cells, we found evidence of the frequent expression by myeloma tumor cells of the pre-B-cell antigen CALLA (common acute lymphocytic leukemia antigen) (in specimens from 58 percent of patients) and of megakaryocytic (88 percent), myelomonocytic (65 percent), and erythroid (39 percent) surface markers. The proportion of tumor cells expressing the different markers varied among patients, from 2 to 100 percent of recognizable tumor cells. We conclude that cells of multiple lineages are involved in myeloma--a finding that is consistent with the hypothesis that there is a common primary neoplastic lesion for all hematologic cancers.

Source Information

Division of Hematology/Oncology, University of Arkansas for Medical Science, Little Rock.

This article has been cited by other articles:

• Shin, J. S., Stopyra, G. A., Warhol, M. J., Multhaupt, H. A.B. (2001). Plasmacytoma with Aberrant Expression of Myeloid Markers, T-cell Markers, and Cytokeratin. J. Histochem. Cytochem. 49: 791-792 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Ng, M. H.-L., Kan, A., Chung, Y.-F., Wong, I. H.-N., Lo, K.-W., Wickham, N. W. R., Lei, K. I.-K., Lee, J. C.-K. (1999). Combined Morphological and Interphase Fluorescence in Situ Hybridization Study in Multiple Myeloma of Chinese Patients. Am. J. Pathol. 154: 15-22 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Arpin, C., de Bouteiller, O., Razanajaona, D., Fugier-Vivier, I., Briere, F., Banchereau, J., Lebecque, S., Liu, Y.-J. (1998). The Normal Counterpart of IgD Myeloma Cells in Germinal Center Displays Extensively Mutated IgVH Gene, C{micro}-C{delta} Switch, and {lambda} Light Chain Expression. JEM 187: 1169-1178 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Barlogie, B., Alexanian, R., Jagannath, S. (1992). Plasma Cell Dyscrasias. JAMA 268: 2946-2951 [Abstract]  
• Gishizky, M., Witte, O. (1992). Initiation of deregulated growth of multipotent progenitor cells by bcr-abl in vitro. Science 256: 836-839 [Abstract]