Modifying risks assessment in patients with multiple myeloma with additional fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) probes.

Abstract

Multiple Myeloma (MM) is a disease with highly variable clinical presentation and outcome due to the complex cytogenetic aberrations involved in the disease. Much effort had been put in to identify useful prognostic markers that can stage MM patients so that appropriate treatment can be given. However, due to the complexity of the chromosomal aberrations, the search for more powerful prognostication markers continues to date. In this study, we looked at two aberrations that are reportedly associated with a poor prognosis - 1q21 amplification and 6q21 deletion. Presence of these aberrations could change the risk assessment of those cases that were supposed to have a good prognosis, such as a hyperdiploid karyotype. Fluorescence In Situ Hybridization (FISH) assays were used to investigate the prevalence of these aberrations among fifty MM cases, twenty-one of which were hyperdiploid and twenty-nine non-hyperdiploid. Among these hyperdiploid cases, five cases harbored amplifications of 1q21 and two harbored deletions of 6q21. Thus, the risk assessment of these cases may be altered. We also found that amplification of 1q21 could be associated with a disease progression since it seemed to occur after several other poor prognostication markers. Gain of 15q22 seemed to be a less powerful good prognostication marker as it occasionally accompanied other poor prognostication markers.