Immunoglobulin M myeloma: evaluation of molecular features and cytokine expression

Kartik Konduri1, Surinder S Sahota, Gavin Babbage

  • 1Baylor Charles A. Sammons Cancer Center, 3535 Worth Street, Dallas, TX 75246, USA. kartikkonduri@hotmail.com

Clinical Lymphoma
|March 30, 2005
PubMed

Immunoglobulin (Ig) M myeloma is a distinct entity with features of multiple myeloma (MM) and Waldenstrom's macroglobulinemia (WM). The malignant cells in IgM myeloma have a distinctive chromosomal translocation that differentiates them from WM. These cells are postgerminal-center in origin with isotype-switch transcripts. They appear to be arrested at a point of maturation between that of WM and MM. Preliminary data indicate that a pattern of osteoclast-activating factor and osteoprotegerin expression similar to that observed in classic MM is present in IgM myeloma. Additional studies on patients with this rare tumor may provide further insight into the pathogenesis of bone disease in plasma cell dyscrasias.

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