Abstract
The simultaneous measurement of DNA content and myeloma-related antigens (B-B4 or CD38) by flow cytometry is proposed as a method for the detection of aneuploid plasma cells in peripheral blood stem cell (PBSC) harvests and in bone marrow after therapy. In 30 patients with initially detected aneuploid myeloma cells we evaluated the bone marrow after therapy and in eight of these patients 23 PBSC harvests were analyzed. In 13 of 23 PBSC harvests aneuploid myeloma cells were detectable (range: 0.02–0.63%). In the bone marrow of the 30 patients aneuploid plasma cells were detectable in all samples after chemotherapy (range: 0.12–35.70%) and after autologous PBSC trans- plantation in two of three patients (0.21% and 0.03%). Furthermore the relationship between diploid and aneuploid plasma cells can be evaluated. In the PBSC harvests the percentage of aneuploid plasma cells is significantly lower than that of diploid plasma cells (P = 0.006). In contrast, in bone marrow the aneuploid plasma cells are predominant in most patients even after therapy (24 of 30 patients; P = 0.0055). In the case of initially detected aneuploid myeloma cells, a contamination with malignant cells can be estimated with a simple flow cytometric method in PBSC harvests and in bone marrow after therapy.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 12 print issues and online access
$259.00 per year
only $21.58 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Nowak, R., Oelschlägel, U., Range, U. et al. Flow cytometric DNA quantification in immunophenotyped cells as a sensitive method for determination of aneuploid multiple myeloma cells in peripheral blood stem cell harvests and bone marrow after therapy. Bone Marrow Transplant 23, 895–900 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.bmt.1701736
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.bmt.1701736