Responsiveness of bone marrow erythroid progenitors (CFU-E and BFU-E) to recombinant human erythropoietin (rh-Ep) in vitro in multiple myeloma.
The responsiveness of bone marrow erythroid progenitors (CFU-E and BFU-E) to recombinant human erythropoietin (rh-Ep) was investigated in vitro in 21 patients with multiple myeloma to assess the clinical usefulness of rh-Ep in this disease. CFU-E and BFU-E assays were performed by methylcellulose culture methods. The myeloma patients were divided into two groups according to the percentage of plasma cells in the bone marrow (over 50% and under 50%). Among the patients with few plasma cells, some revealed normal CFU-E and BFU-E growth at 2 units of rh-Ep, and no further increase was observed even with an increasing dose of rh-Ep. Among the other patients, more than half demonstrated a good response to rh-Ep. Among the patients with a high percentage of plasma cells, some revealed no response to rh-Ep, but there were patients with a high percentage of plasma cells in the bone marrow who had a good response to rh-Ep. High doses of rh-Ep may be clinically effective in some patients with multiple myeloma independently of the level of plasma cells in the bone marrow.
Aoki
I
I
Second Department of Internal Medicine, Kyorin University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan.
Nishijima
K
K
Homori
M
M
Nakahara
K
K
Higashi
K
K
Ishikawa
K
K
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001853:Bone Marrow / Q000473:pathology; D002452:Cell Count / Q000187:drug effects; D015672:Erythroid Precursor Cells / Q000187:drug effects*; D004921:Erythropoietin / Q000494:pharmacology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D066298:In Vitro Techniques; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009101:Multiple Myeloma / Q000097:blood* / Q000473:pathology; D010950:Plasma Cells / Q000473:pathology; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000494:pharmacology; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured / Q000187:drug effects
D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D004921:Erythropoietin