Bone marrow plasma cells (PCs) from 74 patients with newly diagnosed multiple myeloma (MM), 5 with monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS), and 31 healthy volunteers (normal PCs) were purified by CD138 ؉ selection. Gene expression of purified PCs and 7 MM cell lines were profiled using highdensity oligonucleotide microarrays interrogating about 6800 genes. On hierarchical clustering analysis, normal and MM PCs were differentiated and 4 distinct subgroups of MM (MM1, MM2, MM3, and MM4) were identified. The expression pattern of MM1 was similar to normal PCs and MGUS, whereas MM4 was similar to MM cell lines. Clinical parameters linked to poor prognosis, abnormal karyotype (P ‫؍‬ .002) and high serum ␤ 2 -microglobulin levels (P ‫؍‬ .0005), were most prevalent in MM4. Also, genes involved in DNA metabolism and cell cycle control were overexpressed in a comparison of MM1 and MM4. In addition, using 2 and Wilcoxon rank sum tests, 120 novel candidate disease genes were identified that discriminate normal and malignant PCs (P < .0001); many are involved in adhesion, apoptosis, cell cycle, drug resistance, growth arrest, oncogenesis, signaling, and transcription. A total of 156 genes, including FGFR3 and CCND1, exhibited highly elevated ("spiked") expression in at least 4 of the 74 MM cases (range, 4-25 spikes). Elevated expression of these 2 genes was caused by the translocation t(4;14)(p16;q32) or t(11;14)(q13;q32). Thus, novel candidate MM disease genes have been identified using gene expression profiling and this profiling has led to the development of a gene-based classification system for MM. (Blood. 2002;99: 1745-1757

The occurrence of deep-vein thrombosis (DVT) in patients with newly diagnosed multiple myeloma, who were randomly assigned to receive identical induction chemotherapy with or without thalidomide, are reported in this study. The 2 study arms were comparable with respect to key myeloma prognostic factors and known risk factors for DVT. One hundred patients received induction chemotherapy including 4 cycles of continuous infusion of combinations of dexamethasone, vincristine, doxorubicin, cyclophosphamide, etoposide, and cisplatin, and each patient completed at least one induction cycle. DVT developed in 14 of 50 patients (28%) randomly assigned to receive thalidomide but in only 2 of 50 patients (4%) not given the agent (P ‫؍‬ .002). All episodes of DVT occurred during the first 3 cycles of induction. Administration of thalidomide was resumed safely in 75% of patients receiving anticoagulation therapy. Thus, thalidomide given in combination with multiagent chemotherapy and dexamethasone is associated with a significantly increased risk of DVT, which appears to be safely treated with anticoagulation and does not necessarily warrant discontinuation of thalidomide. (Blood. 2001;98: 1614-1615)

No abstract

The precise value of the mean neutron lifetime, τ, plays an important role in nuclear and particle physics and cosmology. It is used to predict the ratio of protons to helium atoms in the primordial universe and to search for physics beyond the Standard Model of particle physics. We eliminated loss mechanisms present in previous trap experiments by levitating polarized ultracold neutrons above the surface of an asymmetric storage trap using a repulsive magnetic field gradient so that the stored neutrons do not interact with material trap walls. As a result of this approach and the use of an in situ neutron detector, the lifetime reported here [877.7 ± 0.7 (stat) +0.4/-0.2 (sys) seconds] does not require corrections larger than the quoted uncertainties.