Non-Clonal Serum Immunoglobulin Free Light Chains (FLC) as Markers of Overall Survival

When screening for clonal disease, the kappa (k) to lambda (l) FLC ratio (FLC-R) is employed to correct for both impaired catabolism (renal function) and non-specific production (generalized immune overstimulation). This adjustment makes it possible to identify patients with relative imbalances between k and l levels, which typically qualifies for clonal excess and has been of value in screening for and prognosticating in patients with most clonal plasma cell disorders. We previously performed a population-based study among Olmsted County residents to ascertain the prevalence of monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS) and light chain MGUS. We hypothesized that by using this cohort, we could identify whether the FLC assay provides information that would be prognostic in a general population of people 50-years and older.

The Olmsted MGUS prevalence cohort was comprised of 21,463 of the 28,038 enumerated individuals over the age of 50 who were living Olmsted between 1/1/95 and 11/21/2003. The final sample size of individuals for the present study was 15839 due to patient losses secondary to blinding, inadequate sample to perform the FLC assay, and known MGUS or LC-MGUS. For the multivariate analyses, another 772 were excluded due lack of coincident creatinine measurement. The FLC measurements were performed using the FLC assay (Binding Site, Birmingham, UK). The respective reference ranges for k FLC and l FLC are 0.33–1.94 mg/dL and 0.57–2.63; therefore, the reference range for the sum of k and l FLC (S FLC) is 0.90–4.57 mg/dL. Survival time was calculated from the time of sample ascertainment.

Forty-five percent of the cohort was male. The median age was 63 years (range 50, 109). On univariate analysis, the hazard ratio for death for those patients with the highest decile of S FLC relative to the other 90% of patients in the cohort was 4.3 (95%CI 4.01, 4.62), Figure 1. Because serum immunoglobulin FLC rise with age and with renal insufficiency, a multivariate analysis was performed to exclude the possibility that S FLC was merely a surrogate for these other parameters. Table 1 shows both univariate and multivariate risk for death. With these other variables included, the hazard ratio for death with highest S FLC decile was lower, but remained significant; hazard ratio, 2.0 (95%1.88, 2.2).

The finding that S FLC above the normal range (i.e. highest decile) is associated with inferior overall survival among individuals above the age of 50, excluding patients with known MGUS or LC-MGUS, is important and merits further investigation. Although there is an association between S FLC, renal function, gender, and age, excess risk of death still exists after adjusting for these risk factors on multivariate analysis. The mechanism by which S FLC predicts for outcomes is uncertain, but one could postulate that conditions resulting in overactivation of the immune system contributes to excess risk of death. Whether the S FLC adds above and beyond other conventional inflammatory markers like ESR or CRP cannot be determined by the present study, but is worthy of further investigation.

Figure 1

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Figure 1

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Dispenzieri:Celgene: Honoraria, Research Funding; Binding Site: Honoraria. Off Label Use: No FDA approved indication. Kumar:Celgene: Consultancy, Research Funding; Millennium: Research Funding; Merck: Consultancy, Research Funding; Novartis: Research Funding; Genzyme: Consultancy, Research Funding; Cephalon: Research Funding. Mead:Binding Site: Employment. Bradwell:Binding Site: Equity Ownership, Patents & Royalties.