Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Correspondence
  • Published:

Osteoprotegerin serum levels in multiple myeloma and MGUS patients compared with age- and sex-matched healthy controls

Leukemia volume 18, pages 1555–1557 (2004)Cite this article

TO THE EDITOR

Multiple myeloma (MM) is a malignant proliferation of plasma cells. Skeletal involvement is present at diagnosis in about 80% of cases and in almost all patients during the course of disease. Myeloma plasma cells induce bone destruction by increasing bone resorption, through the activation of osteoclasts. A number of osteoclast-activating factors (OAFs) have been identified, including tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α and -β, interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-6, vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), and macrophage inflammatory protein (MIP)-1α and -β. An essential cytokine system for osteoclast biology consists of the receptor activator of NF-kB ligand (RANKL), its receptor RANK, and the soluble decoy receptor osteoprotegerin (OPG). RANKL stimulates osteoclast differentiation and activity, and inhibits osteoclast apoptosis; these actions result in enhanced bone resorption. OPG binds to RANKL and prevents RANKL/RANK interaction.1 Myeloma plasma cells have been found to increase RANKL expression and to decrease OPG availability in the bone microenvironment, yielding an increase of the osteoclastogenic signal as a consequence of increased RANKL/OPG ratio.1 OPG circulates in peripheral blood under various forms, in complexes with soluble RANKL besides a free, nonbound portion. The heterogeneity of these circulating forms may account for discrepancies of absolute values reported in the literature. As far as patients with MM are concerned, serum levels of OPG have been repeatedly found to be decreased with respect to healthy controls,2, 3 the levels in the blood stream were found to be correlated with those in the bone marrow plasma.4 To the best of our knowledge, no data are available on patients with MGUS and MM as a function of treatment. The aim of the present cross-sectional study was to investigate serum levels of OPG in a large group of MGUS and MM patients and in a 1:1, sex- and age-matched population of healthy controls.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1

References

  1. Sezer O, Heider U, Zavrski I, Kuhne CA, Hofbauer LC . RANK ligand and osteoprotegerin in myeloma bone disease. Blood 2003; 101: 2094–2098, Epub 2002 Nov 07.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Seidel C, Hjertner O, Abildgaard N, Heickendorff L, Hjorth M, Westin J et al. for Nordic Myeloma Study Group Serum osteoprotegerin levels are reduced in patients with multiple myeloma with lytic bone disease. Blood 2001; 98: 2269–2271.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Terpos E, Szydlo R, Apperley JF, Hatjiharissi E, Politou M, Meletis J et al. Soluble receptor activator of nuclear factor kappaB ligand-osteoprotegerin ratio predicts survival in multiple myeloma: proposal for a novel prognostic index. Blood 2003; 102: 1064–1069, Epub 2003 Apr 10.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Standal T, Seidel C, Hjertner O, Plesner T, Sanderson RD, Waage A et al. Osteoprotegerin is bound, internalized, and degraded by multiple myeloma cells. Blood 2002; 100: 3002–3007.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Ueland T, Bollerslev J, Godang K, Muller F, Froland SS, Aukrust P . Increased serum osteoprotegerin in disorders characterized by persistent immune activation or glucocorticoid excess – possible role in bone homeostasis. Eur J Endocrinol 2001; 145: 685–690.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Kraj M, Centkowski P, Kruk B . Osteoprotegerin sRANKL serum levels in multiple myeloma patients. Haematol J 2003; 4: S157.

    Google Scholar 

  7. Scatena M, Giachelli C . The alpha(v)beta3 integrin, NF-kappaB, osteoprotegerin endothelial cell survival pathway. Potential role in angiogenesis. Trends Cardiovasc Med 2002; 12: 83–88.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Dovio A, Sartori ML, Angeli A . Correspondence re: A. Lipton et al, Serum osteoprotegerin levels in healthy controls and cancer patients. Clin Cancer Res 2002; 8: 2306–2310. Clin Cancer Res 2003; 9: 2384–2385.

Download references

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by grants from MIUR (ex-60%). We thank the staff and volunteers of AVIS (Italian Blood Donors Association) – Turin Section, for kindly providing control blood samples, and Dr Laura Saba for technical assistance.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. IRCCS Policlinico San Matteo,University of Pavia, Italy

    A Corso, C Rusconi, M Varettoni, S Mangiacavalli, P Zappasodi & M Lazzarino

  2. Dipartimento di Scienze Cliniche e Biologiche, University of Turin, Italy

    A Dovio, M L Sartori, M Ventura & A Angeli

  3. Division of Hematology, Biometry and Clinical Epidemiology, University of Pavia, Italy

    C Klersy

Authors
  1. A Corso
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. A Dovio
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. C Rusconi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. M L Sartori
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. C Klersy
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. M Varettoni
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. S Mangiacavalli
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  8. P Zappasodi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  9. M Ventura
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  10. A Angeli
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  11. M Lazzarino
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to A Corso.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Corso, A., Dovio, A., Rusconi, C. et al. Osteoprotegerin serum levels in multiple myeloma and MGUS patients compared with age- and sex-matched healthy controls. Leukemia 18, 1555–1557 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.leu.2403429

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.leu.2403429

Search

Advanced search

Quick links