Circulating endothelial progenitor cells as potential prognostic biomarker in multiple myeloma

Abstract

Recent studies suggest that endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) are mobilized from bone marrow to the peripheral circulation and aid in tumor neovascularization. In this study, circulating EPC (cEPC) numbers were assessed and correlation with clinical and laboratory parameters was determined in 75 patients with multiple myeloma (MM). Higher numbers of cEPCs (defined as CD45−/dim CD34+CD133+CD31+cells) were observed in MM as compared to healthy controls (n = 10; p < 0.001), which increased progressively from stage I to stage III (p < 0.001). A significant decline in cEPC numbers after therapy was observed in patients who attained at least a partial response (n = 47; p < 0.001). cEPCs correlated with response duration, at a baseline cut-off value of 19.6 cEPCs/μL (p = 0.006) and 6.5 cEPCs/μL after therapy (p < 0.001). This study suggests that cEPC numbers and changes in their levels may serve as a potential biomarker of disease severity, response to therapy and treatment outcome in MM.

Keywords::

• Circulating endothelial progenitor cells (cEPCs)
• biomarker
• multiple myeloma (MM)
• angiogenesis

Acknowledgements

The original concept was funded by the Department of Biotechnology (DBT), New Delhi, India. We wish to thank all volunteers and patients for taking part in the study and we gratefully acknowledge the support of Professor Subrata Sinha, MD, PhD, Director of the National Brain Research Center, Gurgaon, Haryana, for providing infrastructural support to carry out this work.

Potential conflict of interest:

Disclosure forms provided by the authors are available with the full text of this article at http://www.informahealthcare.com/lal.