[The Clinical Significance of Oligoclonal Bands in Patient with Multiple Myeloma]

To investigate the clinical value of oligoclonal bands (OB) in patients with multiple myeloma (MM).

The laboratory test and clinical data of 624 newly diagnosed MM patients admitted to Blood Diseases Hospital of Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences from January 2013 to December 2019 were retrospectively analyzed, including 30 patients with OB, and the clinical characteristics, treatment effects and survival of OB and non-OB patients were analyzed and compared.

OB occurred in 11.8% (22/187) of patients who received autologous stem cell transplantation(ASCT) and only 1.8% (8/437) of patients who did not receive ASCT (P=0.000). The median time to the appearance of oligoclonal bands was 3.2(0.6-10.5) months after transplantation. The M protein types of oligoclonal bands mainly include IgG κ, IgG λ, IgM λ and λ light chains. In the presence of oligoclonal bands, 90% of patients were evaluated as complete remission (CR) and above. There were no statistically significant differences in disease stage, tumor burden, and genetic abnormalities between OB and non-OB patients. Among the all patients, the prognosis of OB patients was significantly better than that of non-OB patients, and OB patients showed deeper disease remission (significantly higher CR rate, MRD negative rate, and longer MRD negative duration). Among patients who underwent ASCT, OB patients showed earlier immune recovery, but the depth of treatment response and survival outcomes were similar between OB and non-OB patients, it was no statistically difference. Although OB patients showed earlier immune reconstitution, this did not translate into better survival, suggesting that the better prognosis of OB patients was mainly related to deeper and durable remission rather than early immune reconstitution. Further analysis in patients who received ASCT and obtained MRD negative indicated that there was no additional survival benefit in patients with OB.

The better prognosis of OB patients may be related to the deeper treatment response, but not to the early immune reconstitution. The appearance of OB is only a sign of deep remission and early immune reconstitution in patients, it cannot be translated into survival benefit of MM patients.