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.

  • Article
  • Published:

Multiple myeloma gammopathies

Risk of MGUS in relatives of multiple myeloma cases by clinical and tumor characteristics

Abstract

We and others have shown increased risk of monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS) in first-degree relatives of patients with multiple myeloma (MM). Whether familial risk of MGUS differs by the MM proband’s age at onset, tumor or clinical characteristics is unknown. MM and smoldering MM (SMM) cases (N = 430) were recruited from the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota between 2005–2015. First-degree relatives over age 40 provided serum samples for evaluation of MGUS (N = 1179). Age and sex specific rates of MGUS among first-degree relatives were compared to a population-based sample. Cytogenetic subtypes were classified by Fluorescence in situ hybridization. MGUS was detected in 75 first-degree relatives for an age- and sex- adjusted prevalence of 5.8% (95% CI: 4.5–7.2). Prevalence of MGUS in first-degree relatives was 2.4 fold (95% CI: 1.9–2.9) greater than expected rates. Familial risk did not differ by proband’s age at diagnosis, gender, isotype, IgH translocation, or trisomy. This study confirms first-degree relatives of MM cases have a significantly higher risk of MGUS compared to the general population, regardless of age, gender, or tumor characteristics. In selected situations, such as multiple affected first-degree relatives, screening of first-degree relatives of MM cases could be considered for follow-up and prevention strategies.

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

Access options

Buy this article

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

Fig. 1
Fig. 2

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Rajan AM, Rajkumar SV. Interpretation of cytogenetic results in multiple myeloma for clinical practice. Blood Cancer J. 2015;5:e365.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Sawyer JR. The prognostic significance of cytogenetics and molecular profiling in multiple myeloma. Cancer Genet. 2011;204:3–12.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Munshi NFlsd1C, Avet-Loiseau H. Genomics in multiple myeloma. Clin Cancer Res. 2011;17:1234–42.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Kyle RA, Therneau TM, Rajkumar SV, Larson DR, Plevak MF, Offord JR, et al. Prevalence of monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance. N Engl J Med. 2006;354:1362–9.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Landgren O, Kyle RA, Pfeiffer RM, Katzmann JA, Caporaso NE, Hayes RB, et al. Monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (mgus) consistently precedes multiple myeloma: a prospective study. Blood. 2009;113:5412–7.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Wadhera RK, Rajkumar SV. Prevalence of monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance: a systematic review. Mayo Clin Proc. 2010;85:933–42.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Kyle RA, Therneau TM, Rajkumar SV, Offord JR, Larson DR, Plevak MF, et al. A long-term study of prognosis in monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance. N Engl J Med. 2002;346:564–9.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Vachon CM, Kyle RA, Therneau TM, Foreman BJ, Larson DR, Colby CL, et al. Increased risk of monoclonal gammopathy in first-degree relatives of patients with multiple myeloma or monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance. Blood. 2009;114:785–90.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Eriksson M, Hallberg B. Familial occurrence of hematologic malignancies and other diseases in multiple myeloma: a case-control study. Cancer Causes Control. 1992;3:63–67.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Judson IR, Wiltshaw E, Newland AC. Multiple myeloma in a pair of monozygotic twins: the first reported case. Br J Haematol. 1985;60:551–4.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Lynch HT, Ferrara K, Barlogie B, Coleman EA, Lynch JF, Weisenburger D, et al. Familial myeloma. N Engl J Med. 2008;359:152–7.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Lynch HT, Sanger WG, Pirruccello S, Quinn-Laquer B, Weisenburger DD. Familial multiple myeloma: a family study and review of the literature. J Natl Cancer Inst. 2001;93:1479–83.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Lynch HT, Watson P, Tarantolo S, Wiernik PH, Quinn-Laquer B, Isgur Bergsagel K, et al. Phenotypic heterogeneity in multiple myeloma families. J Clin Oncol. 2005;23:685–93.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Bizzaro N, Pasini P. Familial occurrence of multiple myeloma and monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance in 5 siblings. Haematologica. 1990;75:58–63.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  15. Zawadzki ZA, Aizawa Y, Kraj MA, Haradin AR, Fisher B. Familial immunopathies: report of nine families and survey of literature. Cancer. 1977;40:2094–101.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  16. Ogmundsdottir HM, Einarsdottir HK, Steingrimsdottir H, Haraldsdottir V. Familial predisposition to monoclonal gammopathy of unknown significance, Waldenstrom’s macroglobulinemia, and multiple myeloma. Clin Lymphoma Myeloma. 2009;9:27–29.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Ogmundsdottir HM, Haraldsdottirm V, Johannesson GM, Olafsdottir G, Bjarnadottir K, Sigvaldason H, et al. Familiality of benign and malignant paraproteinemias. A population-based cancer-registry study of multiple myeloma families. Haematologica. 2005;90:66–71.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  18. Landgren O, Linet MS, McMaster ML, Gridley G, Hemminki K, Goldin LR. Familial characteristics of autoimmune and hematologic disorders in 8406 multiple myeloma patients: a population-based case-control study. Int J Cancer. 2006;118:3095–8.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  19. Camp NJ, Werner TL, Cannon-Albright LA. Familial myeloma. N Engl J Med. 2008;359:1734–5. author reply 1735

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  20. Brown LM, Linet MS, Greenberg RS, Silverman DT, Hayes RB, Swanson GM, et al. Multiple myeloma and family history of cancer among blacks and whites in the u.S. Cancer. 1999;85:2385–90.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  21. Bourguet CC, Grufferman S, Delzell E, DeLong ER, Cohen HJ. Multiple myeloma and family history of cancer. A case-control study. Cancer. 1985;56:2133–9.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  22. Goldgar DE, Easton DF, Cannon-Albright LA, Skolnick MH. Systematic population-based assessment of cancer risk in first-degree relatives of cancer probands. J Natl Cancer Inst. 1994;86:1600–8.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  23. Landgren O, Kristinsson SY, Goldin LR, Caporaso NE, Blimark C, Mellqvist UH, et al. Risk of plasma cell and lymphoproliferative disorders among 14621 first-degree relatives of 4458 patients with monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance in sweden. Blood. 2009;114:791–5.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  24. Kristinsson SY, Bjorkholm M, Goldin LR, Blimark C, Mellqvist UH, Wahlin A, et al. Patterns of hematologic malignancies and solid tumors among 37,838 first-degree relatives of 13,896 patients with multiple myeloma in sweden. Int J Cancer. 2009;125:2147–50.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  25. Alexander DD, Mink PJ, Adami HO, Cole P, Mandel JS, Oken MM, et al. Multiple myeloma: a review of the epidemiologic literature. Int J Cancer. 2007;120(Suppl 12):40–61.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. Frank C, Fallah M, Chen T, Mai EK, Sundquist J, Forsti A, et al. Search for familial clustering of multiple myeloma with any cancer. Leukemia. 2016;30:627–32.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  27. Greenberg AJ, Rajkumar SV, Vachon CM. Familial monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance and multiple myeloma: epidemiology, risk factors, and biological characteristics. Blood. 2012;119:5359–66.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  28. Evans DG, Ingham SL. Reduced life expectancy seen in hereditary diseases which predispose to early-onset tumors. Appl Clin Genet. 2013;6:53–61.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  29. Wilding A, Ingham SL, Lalloo F, Clancy T, Huson SM, Moran A, et al. Life expectancy in hereditary cancer predisposing diseases: an observational study. J Med Genet. 2012;49:264–9.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  30. Greenberg AJ, Rajkumar SV, Therneau TM, Singh PP, Dispenzieri A, Kumar SK. Relationship between initial clinical presentation and the molecular cytogenetic classification of myeloma. Leukemia. 2014;28:398–403.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  31. Schmidt-Hieber M, Gutierrez ML, Perez-Andres M, Paiva B, Rasillo A, Tabernero MD, et al. Cytogenetic profiles in multiple myeloma and monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance: a study in highly purified aberrant plasma cells. Haematologica. 2013;98:279–87.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  32. Kumar S, Fonseca R, Ketterling RP, Dispenzieri A, Lacy MQ, Gertz MA, et al. Trisomies in multiple myeloma: Impact on survival in patients with high-risk cytogenetics. Blood. 2012;119:2100–5.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  33. Rajkumar SV. Multiple myeloma: 2016 update on diagnosis, risk-stratification, and management. Am J Hematol. 2016;91:719–34.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  34. Van Wier S, Braggio E, Baker A, Ahmann G, Levy J, Carpten JD, et al. Hypodiploid multiple myeloma is characterized by more aggressive molecular markers than non-hyperdiploid multiple myeloma. Haematologica. 2013;98:1586–92.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  35. Greenberg AJ, Cousin M, Kumar S, Ketterling RP, Knudson RA, Larson D, et al. Differences in the distribution of cytogenetic subtypes between multiple myeloma patients with and without a family history of monoclonal gammopathy and multiple myeloma. Eur J Haematol. 2013;91:193–5.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  36. World Medical Association. World medical association declaration of helsinki: ethical principles for medical research involving human subjects. JAMA 2013;310:2191–4.

  37. Dong H, Yang HS, Jagannath S, Stephenson CF, Brenholz P, Mazumder A, et al. Risk stratification of plasma cell neoplasm: Insights from plasma cell-specific cytoplasmic immunoglobulin fluorescence in situ hybridization (cig fish) vs. Conventional fish. Clin Lymphoma Myeloma Leuk. 2012;12:366–74.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  38. Kumar SK, Mikhael JR, Buadi FK, Dingli D, Dispenzieri A, Fonseca R, et al. Management of newly diagnosed symptomatic multiple myeloma: updated mayo stratification of myeloma and risk-adapted therapy (msmart) consensus guidelines. Mayo Clin Proc. 2009;84:1095–110.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  39. Rajkumar SV, Kumar S. Multiple myeloma: diagnosis and treatment. Mayo Clin Proc. 2016;91:101–19.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  40. Altieri A, Chen B, Bermejo JL, Castro F, Hemminki K. Familial risks and temporal incidence trends of multiple myeloma. Eur J Cancer. 2006;42:1661–70.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  41. Hemminki K, Li X, Czene K. Familial risk of cancer: data for clinical counseling and cancer genetics. Int J Cancer. 2004;108:109–14.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  42. Deshpande HA, Hu XP, Marino P, Jan NA, Wiernik PH. Anticipation in familial plasma cell dyscrasias. Br J Haematol. 1998;103:696–703.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  43. Grosbois B, Jego P, Attal M, Payen C, Rapp MJ, Fuzibet JG, et al. Familial multiple myeloma: report of fifteen families. Br J Haematol. 1999;105:768–70.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  44. VanValkenburg ME, Pruitt GI, Brill IK, Costa L, Ehtsham M, Justement IT, et al. Family history of hematologic malignancies and risk of multiple myeloma: differences by race and clinical features. Cancer Causes Control. 2016;27:81–91.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  45. Schinasi LH, Brown EE, Camp NJ, Wang SS, Hofmann JN, Chiu BC, et al. Multiple myeloma and family history of lymphohaematopoietic cancers: results from the international multiple myeloma consortium. Br J Haematol. 2016;175:87–101.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  46. Birmann BM, Andreotti G, De Roos AJ, Camp NJ, Chiu BCH, Spinelli JJ, et al. Young adult and usual adult body mass index and multiple myeloma risk: a pooled analysis in the international multiple myeloma consortium (immc). Cancer Epidemiol Biomark Prev. 2017;26:876–85.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  47. Mitchell JS, Li N, Weinhold N, Forsti A, Ali M, van Duin M, et al. Genome-wide association study identifies multiple susceptibility loci for multiple myeloma. Nat Commun. 2016;7:12050.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  48. Morgan GJ, Johnson DC, Weinhold N, Goldschmidt H, Landgren O, Lynch HT, et al. Inherited genetic susceptibility to multiple myeloma. Leukemia. 2014;28:518–24.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  49. Chubb D, Weinhold N, Broderick P, Chen B, Johnson DC, Forsti A, et al. Common variation at 3q26.2, 6p21.33, 17p11.2 and 22q13.1 influences multiple myeloma risk. Nat Genet. 2013;45:1221–5.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  50. Weinhold N, Johnson DC, Chubb D, Chen B, Forsti A, Hosking FJ, et al. The ccnd1 c.870g > a polymorphism is a risk factor for t(11;14)(q13;q32) multiple myeloma. Nat Genet. 2013;45:522–5.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  51. Broderick P, Chubb D, Johnson DC, Weinhold N, Forsti A, Lloyd A, et al. Common variation at 3p22.1 and 7p15.3 influences multiple myeloma risk. Nat Genet. 2011;44:58–61.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  52. Swaminathan B, Thorleifsson G, Joud M, Ali M, Johnsson E, Ajore R, et al. Variants in ell2 influencing immunoglobulin levels associate with multiple myeloma. Nat Commun. 2015;6:7213.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  53. Scales M, Chubb D, Dobbins SE, Johnson DC, Li N, Sternberg MJ, et al. Search for rare protein altering variants influencing susceptibility to multiple myeloma. Oncotarget. 2017;8:36203–10.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  54. Aradóttir KLS, Björkholm M, Goldin LR, Turesson I, Landgren O, Kristinsson SY. Family history of lymphoproliferative disease associated with a superior survival in multiple myeloma: a population-based study. European Hematology Association: Learning Center. 2015.

  55. Rosenlof RC, Lemon HM, Rigby PG. Familial factors relating to prognosis of leukemia and lymphoma. Natl Cancer Inst Monogr. 1971;34:283–9.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  56. Sigurdardottir EE, Turesson I, Lund SH, Lindqvist EK, Mailankody S, Korde N, et al. The role of diagnosis and clinical follow-up of monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance on survival in multiple myeloma. JAMA Oncol. 2015;1:168–4.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  57. Go RS, Gundrum JD, Neuner JM. Determining the clinical significance of monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance: a seer-medicare population analysis. Clin Lymphoma Myeloma Leuk. 2015;15:177–86 e174.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  58. Gerkes EH, de Jong MM, Sijmons RH, Vellenga E. Familial multiple myeloma: report on two families and discussion of screening options. Hered Cancer Clin Pract. 2007;5:72–78.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  59. Wang Q, Wang Y, Ji Z, Chen X, Pan Y, Gao G, et al. Risk factors for multiple myeloma: a hospital-based case-control study in northwest china. Cancer Epidemiol. 2012;36:439–44.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  60. Jain M, Ascensao J, Schechter GP. Familial myeloma and monoclonal gammopathy: a report of eight african american families. Am J Hematol. 2009;84:34–38.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We would especially like to acknowledge the many MM/SMM patients and their families who contributed to this research. This work was supported in part by grants R01 CA107476, R01 CA168762, R25 CA092049, and P50 CA186781 (Mayo Clinic Myeloma SPORE) from the National Cancer Institute of the National Institutes of Health and the Mayo Clinic Cancer Center.

Authors' contributions

AICG wrote, reviewed, and edited the original draft, and visualized the tables/figures. SK and SVR helped with conceptualization, methodology, contributed with patients’ samples, provided funding for study, and reviewed/edited. AR helped with data abstraction and reviewed/edited. RAK defined MGUS in first-degree relatives, helped with study methodology, and reviewed/edited. JAK defined MGUS in first-degree relatives and reviewed/edited. DLM contributed to FISH methodology and reviewed/edited. ADN provided project management and reviewed/edited. AJG reviewed/edited. DRL and MMO’B performed statistical analyses and helped with methodology, reviewed/edited, and contributed to visualization of tables/figures. SLS helped with conceptualization and methodology, contributed with patients’ samples, provided funding for the study, reviewed/edited, and supervised research and data analysis. CMV helped with conceptualization and study methodology, defined statistical analytic approach, contributed with patients’ samples, provided funding for the study, reviewed/edited, visualized the tables/figures, and supervised research and data analysis.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Celine M. Vachon.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Electronic supplementary material

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Clay-Gilmour, A.I., Kumar, S., Rajkumar, S.V. et al. Risk of MGUS in relatives of multiple myeloma cases by clinical and tumor characteristics. Leukemia 33, 499–507 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41375-018-0246-2

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41375-018-0246-2

Search

Quick links