title: Comparison of interleukin-6 levels in the bone marrow of multiple myeloma patients with disease severity and clonogenicity in vitro.
abstract: Fifteen of 25 bone marrow aspirates from 23 patients who presented or had been treated for multiple myeloma at the Royal Marsden Hospital produced myeloma colonies (MY-CFUc) in vitro. There was no correlation between disease severity and the level of interleukin-6 (IL-6) in bone marrow plasma nor was there any evidence that the level of IL-6 was higher in bone marrow aspirates from patients whose tumour produced MY-CFUc in vitro compared with those who did not. The mean level of IL-6 in the whole group of patients was 0.41 ng/ml (range 0.1-0.66 ng/ml), a value similar to that found in plasma from normal donor bone marrow, 0.42 ng/ml (range 0.14-0.62 ng/ml). Separation of peripheral blood cells from serum 24 h after collection, compared with 2 h after collection, resulted in a substantial increase of IL-6 in the serum. The results suggest that levels of IL-6 in bone marrow plasma is not a monitor of disease severity in multiple myeloma (MM) and that the collection and separation of blood and/or bone marrow samples into the cellular and aqueous components should be performed using standardized conditions to minimize inter-sample variation resulting from the release of IL-6 from the cellular components.
authors.affiliation: Cancer Research Campaign Section of Medicine, Institute of Cancer Research, Sutton, Surrey, UK.
authors.forename: J B
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Bell
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Montes
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Gooding
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Riches
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Cunningham
authors.forename: B C
authors.initials: BC
authors.lastname: Millar
mesh_terms: D000971:Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols / Q000627:therapeutic use; D001853:Bone Marrow / Q000378:metabolism*; D016026:Bone Marrow Transplantation; D002999:Clone Cells; D003114:Colony-Forming Units Assay; D006801:Humans; D015850:Interleukin-6 / Q000032:analysis*; D009101:Multiple Myeloma / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy
chemical_list: D015850:Interleukin-6