Iwasaki T, Hamano T, Ogata A, Kakishita E
Second Department of Internal Medicine, Hyogo College of Medicine, Japan.
Int J Hematol. 1999 Oct;70(3):163-8.
The proliferation and differentiation of multiple myeloma (MM) cells has been suggested to be induced by continuous stimulation of interleukin (IL)-6 in the bone marrow (BM) microenvironment. We investigated the production and gene expression of this cytokine in bone marrow mononuclear cells (BMMC) of 31 untreated patients with MM. The IL-6 gene was expressed in 20/31 patients in whom increased IL-6 production in vitro was observed, suggesting that IL-6 gene expression correlates with IL-6 production by BMMC. A significant correlation was found between the presence of bone lesions and IL-6 gene expression; however, the percentage of MM cells infiltrating the BM did not correlate with IL-6 gene expression. This IL-6 gene expression was assigned to adherent cells of the BM microenvironment. Furthermore, serial measurement of IL-6 gene expression along with the clinical course revealed increased expression of IL-6 gene during the progressive phase of MM and decreased expression after remission at the individual level. These results suggest that IL-6 gene expression in BMMC reflects disease severity in MM.
多发性骨髓瘤（MM）细胞的增殖和分化被认为是由骨髓（BM）微环境中白细胞介素（IL）-6的持续刺激所诱导的。我们研究了31例未经治疗的MM患者骨髓单个核细胞（BMMC）中这种细胞因子的产生和基因表达。IL-6基因在20/31例患者中表达，这些患者在体外观察到IL-6产生增加，这表明IL-6基因表达与BMMC产生IL-6相关。发现骨病变的存在与IL-6基因表达之间存在显著相关性；然而，浸润BM的MM细胞百分比与IL-6基因表达无关。这种IL-6基因表达归因于BM微环境的贴壁细胞。此外，随着临床病程对IL-6基因表达进行连续测量，发现在MM的进展期IL-6基因表达增加，而在个体水平缓解后表达降低。这些结果表明BMMC中IL-6基因表达反映了MM的疾病严重程度。
