Description
It is now well established that bone marrow (BM) constitutes a microenvironment required for differentiation. Bone marrow mesenchymal stromal cells (BM-MSCs) strongly support MM cell growth, by producing a high level of Interleukin-6 (IL-6), a major MM cell growth factor. BM-MSCs also support osteoclastogenesis and angiogenesis. Previous studies have suggested that the direct (VLA-4, VCAM-1, CD44, VLA-5, LFA-1, syndecan-1,) and indirect interactions (soluble factors) between MM plasma cells and BM-MSCs result in constitutive abnormalities in BM-MSCs. In particular, MM BM-MSCs express less CD106 and fibronectin and more DKK1, IL-1 and TNF- as compared with normal BM-MSCs. In order to gain a global view of the differences between BM-MSCs from MM patients and healthy donors, we used gene expression profiling to identify genes associated to the transformation of MM BM-MSCs.