Study on determining surface antigens in multiple myeloma cells with flow cytometry

Objective To determine surface antigen of multiple myeloma(MM)cells by gating method of CD38/SSC,explore a better method to determine MM,provide a correct evidence that can imprtve earlier diagnosis,therapy and prognosis.Methods Thirty seven cases of confirmed MM,and 20 reactive plasmacytosis(RP) patients as control group were enrolled in the study.To determine surface antigens of multiple myeloma cells with FCM.Results With CD38/SSC gating method,all the samples in their scatterplot can be seen a cluster of CD38 positive cells,the proportion ranged from 0.5% to 80%.Most phenotype of MM was CD38+CD19-CD56+(89.2%),the expression level of CD56 correlated closely with the malignant degree of disease.The expression of CD40 and CD138 in myeloma cells was obviously higher than that in plasma cells.Different phenotype combining with the expression of CD45 and CD49e could distinguish the cells' degree of maturity.Conclusion Using FCM to immunophenotype MM with CD38/SSC gating method and basing on the heterogeneity of cell surface antigens,we can discriminate myeloma cells from nomal plasma cells,provide evidence for targeted therapy and prognosis.