Haematologica 2003 - Supplements

patients, the growth of primary myeloma plasma cells (MM PC)
in SCID-hu mice is associated with a reduced number of
osteoblasts. The aim of the study was to shed light on the fate of
osteogenic cells in MM and to test the effect of osteoblasts on
myeloma cell growth and survival. Human bone sections from
myelomatous SCID-hu mice double stained for TUNEL and for
osteocalcin showed increased number of apoptotic osteoblasts
and osteocytes as compared with non-myelomatous bone
sections.
To investigate the effects of mesenechymal cells from myeloma
patients, 0.5-1x106 EGFP-transduced mesenechymal stem cells
(MSCs), established from bone marrow aspirates of MM patients,
were injected directly into the human bones of myelomatous
SCID-hu mice, resulting in marked inhibition of tumor growth in
3 of 9 experiments and stable disease in 2 additional mice. The
levels of hIg in responding mice was reduced from 492±206 to
205±68 µg/ml (p