Abstract
We have identified by MEDLINE search the cases of gammaglobinopathy and plasma cell malignancy in HIV-positive patients reported in the English language literature. The average age at presentation among HIV-positive patients with plasma cell disorders is 33 years, far younger than the average age of presentation in the general population. Some of these patients present with transient paraproteinemias, while others have persistent paraproteins, which may or may not be associated with true plasma cell malignancies. In most cases in which it has been examined, the paraprotein contains high-titer anti-HIV activity. The presence of high-titer anti-HIV activity in the paraproteins of AIDS patients suggests that an antigen-driven process in response to HIV infection may contribute to the early development of plasma cell disorders in these patients. Recent work in plasma cell tumorigenesis has indicated that transformation at a single point in the B lymphocyte lineage can give rise to either lymphoma or myeloma, dependent upon environmental factors such as T cell function, which may be required for directing transformed lymphocytes from lymphoma and towards plasma cell differentiation. This may explain why B lineage oncogenesis in AIDS patients favors the development of lymphoma over that of myeloma.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 12 print issues and online access
$259.00 per year
only $21.58 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Fiorino, A., Atac, B. Paraproteinemia, plasmacytoma, myeloma and HIV infection. Leukemia 11, 2150–2156 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.leu.2400875
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.leu.2400875
Keywords
This article is cited by
-
Molecular and functional profiling identifies therapeutically targetable vulnerabilities in plasmablastic lymphoma
Nature Communications (2021)
-
Viral co-infections and paraproteins in HIV: effect on development of hematological malignancies
Annals of Hematology (2016)
-
Plasma cell disorders in HIV-infected patients: epidemiology and molecular mechanisms
Biomarker Research (2013)
-
Plasmablastic lymphoma with MYC translocation: evidence for a common pathway in the generation of plasmablastic features
Modern Pathology (2010)
-
Plasmablastic lymphomas and plasmablastic plasma cell myelomas have nearly identical immunophenotypic profiles
Modern Pathology (2005)