Mq. Lacy et al., Comparison of interleukin-1 beta expression by in situ hybridization in monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance and multiple myeloma, BLOOD, 93(1), 1999, pp. 300-305
We investigated whether interleukin-1 beta(IL-1 beta) is differentially exp
ressed in plasma cells from monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significa
nce (MGUS) and multiple myeloma (MM) patients because IL-1 beta appears to
play a major role in the development of lyric bone lesions, the major clini
cal feature distinguishing MGUS from myeloma, In situ hybridization (ISH) f
or IL-1 beta was performed using bone marrow aspirates from 51 MM, 7 smolde
ring MM, 21 MGUS, and 5 normal control samples. Using the ISH technique IL-
1 beta mRNA was detectable in the plasma cells from 49 of 51 patients with
active myeloma and 7 of 7 patients with smoldering myeloma. In contrast, 5
of 21 patients with MGUS and 0 of 5 normal controls had detectable IL-1 bet
a message. Bone lesions were present in 40 of the 51 MM patients analyzed,
and all 40 patients had IL-1 beta mRNA by ISH. These results show that grea
ter than 95% of MM patients but less than 25% of MGUS patients are positive
for IL-1 beta production. In the future, continued follow-up of IL-1 beta
positive and negative MGUS patients should determine whether aberrant expre
ssion of plasma cell IL-1 beta is predictive of those MGUS patients that wi
ll eventually progress to active myeloma. (C) 1999 by The American Society
of Hematology.