1 1st Leningrad Medical Institute, USSR Petrov Research Institute of Oncology, Leningrad, USSR.

Introduction

Multiple myeloma (MM) is a malignant clonal B-lymphoproliferative disease with typical immunodefficient, osteolytic, renal, amyloid syndromes. Disturbance in the immunologic system appears early and influences the outcome of MM [1 ]. Light chain isotype suppression (LCIS) [2] and imbalance in T -cells [3] are the factors determining the immunodefficiency syndrome. There are no convincing data about changes in natural killer (NK) activity in MM [4, 5]. Osteolysis is the second most frequently observed syndrome, and interleukin-1 ß (IL-1 ß), plays the main role in its development [6, 7]. IL-1 ß probably is also responsible for chronic renal insufficiency (CRI) [7, 8], which is of great prognostic value im MM [9]. Amyloidosis rarely appears in MM patients (6% 15% ) [10]. The aims of this study were to clarify the role of LCIS, to determine NK activity of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) and bone marrow mononuclear cells (BMMC) and IL-1 production by peripheral blood monocytes (PBM) in MM, and to assess any possible correlation between these data and the course of MM.