The biological and clinical significance of the KI‐67 growth fraction in multiple myeloma

摘要

AbstractWe tested the significance of the Ki‐67 plasma cell growth fraction in 49 bone marrow samples from 42 patients with multiple myeloma (MM). As a new approach to study myeloma cell proliferation, strong positivity of the CD38 antigen as plasma cell related feature was simultaneously evaluated with nuclear Ki‐67 expression in a flow cytometric double immunofluorescence assay. Mean Ki‐67 values were significantly higher in MM at relapse (22·4 per cent ± 10·4) as compared with MM at diagnosis (11·9 per cent ± 8·4,p6 (p14 per cent at diagnosis had an unfavourable course (primary resistant disease or early relapse), and three of four patients with elevated Ki‐67 values at plateau‐phase relapsed within 3 months. Our results demonstrate the usefulness of Ki‐67 in determining proliferative activity in MM and emphasize its value in the evalu