Philip S. Hench--1950 Nobel laureate.
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Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to R A Kyle.
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OBJECTIVE: To quantify clinical conditions and laboratory values associated with moderate to marked polyclonal gammopathy. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Patient characteristics, laboratory correlates, evolving disease states, and survival of all patients seen at the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn, during 1991 with a polyclonal gamma globulin level of 3.0 g/dL or higher were reviewed in this retrospective cohort study. RESULTS: One hundred forty-eight patients were identified (median age, 58 years; 59% female). In 130 patients (88%), only 1 diagnosis was identified. Liver disease was the most common single disease association in 79 (61%) of 130 patients, followed by connective tissue diseases in 28 (22%), chronic infections in 8 (6%), hematologic disorders in 6 (5%), and nonhematologic malignancies in 4 (3%). No difference in gamma globulin levels existed between groups. With a median follow-up of 67 months, 90 (63%) of 143 patients for whom follow-up was available were alive. By multivariate analysis, age, albumin concentration, disease group, and platelet count were predictive of survival. No patient developed myeloma or a clonal plasmaproliferative disorder. CONCLUSION: Moderate to marked polyclonal gammopathy may reflect an underlying condition: liver disease, connective tissue disease, hematologic disorder, infection, or malignancy.
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Because human herpesvirus-8 (HHV-8) DNA has been found in multiple myeloma (MM) patients by polymerase chain reaction, it was suggested that HHV-8 may play a role in the transformation of monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS) to MM. Therefore, 362 MGUS sera with and without progression to MM were tested for IgG antibody to HHV-8. Only 7.8% of the MGUS sera contained HHV-8 antibody to lytic proteins, and IgG antibody to HHV-8 latent antigen was even lower than lytic antibody (2.9%). No differences were observed in the distribution of antibody to HHV-8 in sera from MGUS patients who progressed to MM. The seroprevalences of HHV-8 in MGUS (7.8%), MM (5.4%), and healthy donors (5.9%) were similar, thus arguing for the lack of epidemiologic evidence of HHV-8 participation in the pathogenesis of MM. MGUS patients were immune competent in response to Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection because 97% contained antibody to EBV virus capsid antigen.
Promoting remyelination, a major goal of an effective treatment for demyelinating diseases, has the potential to protect vulnerable axons, increase conduction velocity, and improve neurologic deficits. Strategies to promote remyelination have focused on transplanting oligodendrocytes (OLs) or recruiting endogenous myelinating cells with trophic factors. Ig-based therapies, routinely used to treat a variety of neurological and autoimmune diseases, underlie our approach to enhance remyelination. We isolated two human mAbs directed against OL surface antigens that promoted significant remyelination in a virus-mediated model of multiple sclerosis. Four additional OL-binding human mAbs did not promote remyelination. Both human mAbs were as effective as human i.v. Ig, a treatment shown to have efficacy in multiple sclerosis, and bound to the surface of human OLs suggesting a direct effect of the mAbs on the cells responsible for myelination. Alternatively, targeting human mAbs to areas of central nervous system (CNS) pathology may facilitate the opsonization of myelin debris, allowing repair to proceed. Human mAbs were isolated from the sera of individuals with a form of monoclonal gammopathy. These individuals carry a high level of monoclonal protein in their blood without detriment, lending support to the belief that administration of these mAbs as a therapy would be safe. Our results are (i) consistent with the hypothesis that CNS-reactive mAbs, part of the normal Ig repertoire in humans, may help repair and protect the CNS from pathogenic immune injury, and (ii) further challenge the premise that Abs that bind OLs are necessarily pathogenic.
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Survival of > or =5 years was seen in 8 of 153 patients (5%) with primary systemic amyloidosis and cardiac involvement. All patients with survival of >5 years received chemotherapy and all but 1 had an objective chemotherapeutic response.
We studied the effect of complete response (CR) among 126 consecutive patients who underwent stem cell transplantation (SCT) for myeloma. The CR rate with SCT was 33%. Median overall survival (OS) from diagnosis of myeloma was 56 months. OS following SCT was 22 months. Progression-free survival (PFS) was 12 months. OS was not different between patients who achieved CR and those who did not, median survival 25 vs 24 months, P = 0.5. Corresponding median times for PFS were 15 and 11 months, P = 0.2. The plasma cell labeling index (PCLI) was high (> or = 1%) in 36% (high risk group) and was associated with poor OS and PFS (P < 0.001). Achieving CR did not influence OS or PFS in either the high or the low risk group. In contrast, OS and PFS were significantly influenced by high PCLI both in patients who achieved CR and those who did not. OS was poor (< 30 months) in high risk patients regardless of CR status and in low risk patients who did not achieve CR, compared to low risk patients achieving CR (57 months), making them candidates for novel post-transplant treatment options. Outcome following SCT is dependent more on biological variables such as the PCLI than on CR status.
This study investigated the response rate and toxicity of blood cell transplantation as treatment for primary amyloidosis (AL). Twenty-three patients had stem cells collected between November 1995 and September 1998. Conditioning included melphalan and total body irradiation in 16 and melphalan alone in 4. Three patients did not undergo stem cell infusion because of poor performance status. Two died of progressive amyloid at 1 and 3 months. One patient is alive on hemodialysis. Fourteen males and six females (median age, 57 years) underwent transplantation. Renal, cardiac (by echocardiography), peripheral neuropathy or liver amyloidosis occurred in 14, 12, 3, and 1, respectively. Echocardiography demonstrated an interventricular septal thickness > or = 15 mm in six patients, five of whom died post transplantation. Three patients died of progressive amyloidosis at 7, 7, and 21 months. Thirteen patients are alive with a follow-up of 3 to 26 months. Twelve (60%) fulfilled the criteria of a hematologic or organ response. Severe gastrointestinal tract toxicity was seen in five (25%). We conclude that blood cell transplantation for amyloidosis had a much higher morbidity and mortality compared with transplantation for myeloma. The best results appear to occur in patients with nephrotic syndrome as the only manifestation of their disease.
This prospective study compared continuous and intermittent chlorambucil therapy of untreated Waldenström's macroglobulinaemia. The diagnosis was established by the presence of an IgM monoclonal (M-) protein in the serum, an infiltrate of lymphocytes and plasma cells in the bone marrow, anaemia or other laboratory abnormalities, physical findings or constitutional symptoms. Patients were randomized to receive chlorambucil 0.1 mg/kg/d or chlorambucil 0.3 mg/kg/d orally for 7 d, repeated every 6 weeks. Criteria for response included 50% or more reduction of serum M-protein, increase in haemoglobin level of 2 g/dl without transfusion, >/= 50% decrease of urine M-protein, or a reduction of 2 cm in the size of the liver, spleen or lymph nodes. Forty-six patients were randomized to continuous chlorambucil (n = 24) or to intermittent chlorambucil (n = 22). Nineteen (79%) (95% CI = 58-93) of the 24 patients given continuous therapy had an objective improvement by either reduction of serum M-protein or increase in haemoglobin. Fifteen (68%) (95% CI = 45-86) of the 22 patients given chlorambucil intermittently had an objective response. The size of the liver decreased by >/= 2 cm in 55% of patients, and the size of the spleen decreased >/= 2 cm in 67%. Lymphadenopathy decreased in 71%. Acute leukaemia or refractory anaemia developed in four patients. The median duration of survival was 5.4 years, and there was no difference between the regimens. Chlorambucil is effective for the treatment of Waldenström's macroglobulinaemia. Patients must be treated for at least 6 months before therapy is abandoned because response is slow. Chlorambucil is an effective agent and should be compared with purine analogues or rituxan (Rituximab) in a prospective study.
Bone involvement is a central feature of multiple myeloma (MM). We investigated whether serum markers of osteoblastic and osteoclastic activity correlate with the presence of bone disease and survival in 313 MM patients enrolled in a phase III trial (E9486). Five markers were measured, including osteocalcin (OC), carboxy-terminal propeptide of type I collagen (PICP), bone alkaline phosphatase (BAP), carboxy-terminal telopeptide of type I collagen (ICTP) and tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase (TRAP). We analysed the relationship between serum levels of these markers and the presence of bone manifestations, and survival. Serum levels of ICTP and BAP correlated significantly with bone pain, lesions and fractures. Serum level of ICTP was also higher in stage II-III compared with stage I disease. The serum level of ICTP was significantly associated with shortened survival in the univariate analysis. The median survival times were 4.1 and 3.5 years for low and high ICTP respectively (P = 0.02). There was a strong relationship between ICTP and beta-2-micrgolobulin (B2M). ICTP stands out as a significant marker of bone disease. Incorporation of these markers into clinical trials assessing the use of bisphosphonates in MM is needed to determine whether they might serve as indicators of effectiveness of these agents.
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Conventional cytogenetic analysis is limited in the evaluation of plasma cell disorders because, relative to normal hematopoietic elements, plasma cells divide slowly. Moreover, it is difficult to know whether abnormal metaphases originate from malignant plasma cells or myeloid cells harboring other abnormalities. We studied a patient with primary systemic amyloidosis who had previously been treated with an alkylating agent. Bone marrow cells were analyzed by cytoplasmic-immunoglobulin fluorescent staining combined with fluorescent in situ hybridization (cIg-FISH). Both chromosome enumeration probes for chromosome 1 and 7 and loci-specific probes for the short and long arm of chromosome 7 were used. Cytogenetic analysis disclosed the following abnormality: +der(1;7)(q10;p10). On cIg-FISH, the myeloid cells had fusion signals between chromosome enumeration probes for chromosomes 1 and 7, whereas plasma cells had the normal appearance of two pairs of signals. There was a second clone of abnormal myeloid cells with monosomy of chromosome 7. The bone marrow did not show any evidence of myelodysplasia. Interphase cIg-FISH is a useful technique for assigning the lineage of chromosomal abnormalities in plasma cell disorders.