The Relationship of Myeloma Cells, Stromal Cells and Monocytes Under Bone Marrow Microenvironment

Abstract 4987

The Bone marrow (BM) microenvironment plays crucial role in pathogenesis of Multiple myeloma(MM). Myeloma cells contacts with bone marrow stromal cells (BMSCs), which secrete factors/cytokines, promoting tumor cell growth and survival. Paracrine secretion of cytokines(i. e., interleukin-6 (IL-6) insulin-like growth factor-1, inflammatory protein-1a) in BM stromal cells promotes multiple myeloma cell proliferation and protects against drug-induced cytotoxicity. These cytokines provide stimulatory signals for multiple myeloma growth and survival.

Bone involvement is a common feature in MM patient, solid and hematologic cancers. MM localizes to the bone in nearly all patients ranges between 40% and 75%. Disease-related skeletal complications result in significant morbidity due to pain, pathologic fractures and spinal cord compression. The bone microenvironment creates a supportive niche for tumor growth. Osteoclasts and bone marrow stromal cells, along with extracellular matrix and cytokines stimulate tumor cell proliferation and confer chemoresistance. Therefore, the reciprocal interactions between tumor cells, osteoclasts, osteoblasts, and bone marrow stromal cells present an important.

In current study, monocyte can directly promote mesenchymal stem cells osteogenic differentiation through cell contact interactions, thus resulting in the production of osteogenic factors by the monocytes. This mechanism is mediated by the activation of STAT3 signaling pathway in the mesechymal stem cells that leads to the upregulation of Osteoblasts-associated genes such as Runx2 and alkaline phosphatase (ALP), and the down-regulation of inhibitors such as DKK1 to drive the differentiation of mesechymal stem cells into osteoblasts.

In this study, we examined the role of monocyte, component of BM cells, as a potential niche component that supports myeloma cells. We investigated the proliferation of MM cell lines cultured alone or co-cultured with BM stromal cells, monocytes, or a combination of BM stromal cells and monocytes. Consistently, we observed increased proliferation of MM cell lines in the presence of either BM stromal cells or monocytes compared to cell line-only control. Furthermore, the co-culture of BM stromal cells plus monocytes induced the greatest degree of proliferation of myeloma cells. In addition to increased proliferation, BMSCs and monocytes decreased the rate of apoptosis of myeloma cells. Our results therefore suggest that highlights the role of monocyte as an important component of the BM microenvironment.

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