Gene expression analysis of bone marrow stromal cells from multiple myeloma patients and controls

Multiple myeloma is hematologic malignancies result from clonal proliferation of plasma cells. Recently, increasing evidence supports the hypothesis that microenvironment cells play important roles in the proliferation, survival, and drug resistance of clonal plasma cells. The aim of this study is to culture stromal cells from bone marrow aspirates of patients with multiple myeloma, and to investigate expression profiles of bone marrow stromal cells and their relationships with the clinical characteristics of patients. RNA was extracted cultured bone marrow stromal cells from 15 patients with plasma cell neoplasms, and bone marrow stromal cells from 13 control patients with 9 B-cell lymphoma patients with no evidence of BM involvement and 4 patients with mild-to-moderate cytopenia without evidence of hematologic malignancies