The relationship between proliferation and apoptosis in patients with monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance or multiple myeloma.

Multiple myeloma (MM) is a clonal neoplastic lymphoproliferative disease affecting terminally differentiated B cells i.e. plasma cells characterized by slow proliferation activity and different resistance to apoptosis with latent accumulation of myeloma cells in the bone marrow. This process is induced by failure of normal tissue homeostatic mechanisms. We compared plasma cell proliferation and apoptic indices in various phases of MM and in monoclonal gammophaty of untetermined significance.