title: Clinical significance of granule-containing myeloma cells in patients with newly diagnosed multiple myeloma.
abstract: The clinical features and prognostic significance of myeloma cells containing granules remain unclear. The purpose of this retrospective study was to investigate the clinical significance of granule-containing myeloma cells in patients with newly diagnosed multiple myeloma (NDMM). We retrospectively analyzed the records of 122 patients diagnosed with NDMM between January 2007 and December 2013. Granule-containing myeloma cells were defined as myeloma cells that exhibited three or more granules in their cytoplasm by May-Giemsa staining. The patients were classified into two groups, the granule-containing myeloma (GM) and nongranule-containing myeloma (non-GM) groups, depending on the proportion of myeloma cells that contained granules (cut-off value: 10%). There were 25 (20.5%) patients in the GM group. Patients in the GM group displayed significantly higher CD56 and CD49e expression than those in the non-GM group (t-test, P = 0.027 and 0.042). None of the patient characteristics differed significantly between the two groups. There was no significant difference in the chemotherapy profiles of the two groups, and the overall response rates of the two groups were similar. During the median follow-up period of 33.9 months, the overall survival (OS) in the GM group was similar to that in the non-GM group; 4-year OS of the GM and non-GM groups were 78.5% and 51.9%, respectively (P = 0.126). We concluded that cases of NDMM involving granule-containing myeloma cells are not infrequent. Moreover, CD56 and CD49e expression was significantly higher in the presence of myeloma cell populations, and the presence of granules did not affect survival.
authors.affiliation: Division of Clinical Oncology/Hematology, Department of Internal Medicine, The Jikei University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Kazuhito
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Suzuki
authors.affiliation: Division of Clinical Oncology/Hematology, Department of Internal Medicine, The Jikei University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Shingo
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yano
authors.affiliation: Division of Clinical Oncology/Hematology, Department of Internal Medicine, The Jikei University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Kaichi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Nishiwaki
authors.affiliation: Division of Clinical Oncology/Hematology, Department of Internal Medicine, The Jikei University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Koji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Sano
authors.affiliation: Division of Clinical Oncology/Hematology, Department of Internal Medicine, The Jikei University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Takaki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Shimada
authors.affiliation: Division of Clinical Oncology/Hematology, Department of Internal Medicine, The Jikei University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Yuichi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yahagi
authors.affiliation: Division of Clinical Oncology/Hematology, Department of Internal Medicine, The Jikei University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Yoji
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ogasawara
authors.affiliation: Division of Clinical Oncology/Hematology, Department of Internal Medicine, The Jikei University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Katsuki
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Sugiyama
authors.affiliation: Division of Clinical Oncology/Hematology, Department of Internal Medicine, The Jikei University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Shinobu
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Takahara
authors.affiliation: Division of Clinical Oncology/Hematology, Department of Internal Medicine, The Jikei University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Takeshi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Saito
authors.affiliation: Division of Clinical Oncology/Hematology, Department of Internal Medicine, The Jikei University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Kinuyo
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kasama
authors.affiliation: Division of Clinical Oncology/Hematology, Department of Internal Medicine, The Jikei University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Jiro
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Minami
authors.affiliation: Division of Clinical Oncology/Hematology, Department of Internal Medicine, The Jikei University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Hiroki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yokoyama
authors.affiliation: Division of Clinical Oncology/Hematology, Department of Internal Medicine, The Jikei University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Yutaro
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kamiyama
authors.affiliation: Division of Clinical Oncology/Hematology, Department of Internal Medicine, The Jikei University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Atsushi
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Katsube
authors.affiliation: Division of Clinical Oncology/Hematology, Department of Internal Medicine, The Jikei University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Hidekazu
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Masuoka
authors.affiliation: Division of Clinical Oncology/Hematology, Department of Internal Medicine, The Jikei University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Mitsuji
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Katori
authors.affiliation: Division of Clinical Oncology/Hematology, Department of Internal Medicine, The Jikei University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Tomohito
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Machishima
authors.affiliation: Division of Clinical Oncology/Hematology, Department of Internal Medicine, The Jikei University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Aya
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ouchi
authors.affiliation: Division of Clinical Oncology/Hematology, Department of Internal Medicine, The Jikei University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Nobuaki
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Dobashi
authors.affiliation: Central Clinical Laboratory, The Jikei University Hospital, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Ken
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kaito
authors.affiliation: Division of Clinical Oncology/Hematology, Department of Internal Medicine, The Jikei University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan.|Division of Transfusion Medicine, The Jikei University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Noriko
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Usui
authors.affiliation: Division of Clinical Oncology/Hematology, Department of Internal Medicine, The Jikei University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Keisuke
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Aiba
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D015415:Biomarkers; D001706:Biopsy; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D020732:Cytogenetic Analysis; D003594:Cytoplasmic Granules / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016130:Immunophenotyping; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009101:Multiple Myeloma / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000401:mortality / Q000628:therapy; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D011379:Prognosis; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D016019:Survival Analysis; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers
keywords: CD49e; CD56; granules; morphology; myeloma; prognosis