Effect of LIM domain only (LMO2) protein expression on survival in multiple myeloma patients.

Abstract

e19500 Background: Better understanding of the biology of myeloma paved the way for new treatments that target myeloma cells which are playing a critical role in the pathogenesis of the disease and microenvironments of the bone marrow. LMO2 (LIM domain only 2) is located on 11p13 and belongs to a family of 4 genes encoding LIM only proteins, that are transcription regulators that control cell fate in normal hematopoiesis. LMO2 has been identified as a novel oncogene associated with carcinogenesis and better prognosis in several malignant tumors such as pancreatic, prostate cancer. We examined if LMO2 protein expression can predict the outcome in MM patients. Methods: Forty-one patients were enrolled with MM admitted to our hospital. Immunohistochemistry on bone marrow biopsy material for LMO2 protein was performed in our hospital pathology laboratory, and staining in greater than 30% of plasma cells was assigned positive score. Results: Of the 41 patients , 21 were male and 20 were female. The mean age was 62±11. The demographic characteristics of patients are shown in the table. Thirty patients had LMO2 protein expression in bone marrow samples whereas in eleven patients LMO2 protein expression was not detected. LMO2 negativity were more frequent in patients with type of lambdaM protein (P=0.04). The risk of death was increased in the patients with LMO2 protein expression compared with patients who had no LMO2 protein expression. While overall survival was %100 in the patients with no LMO2 protein expression, it was %76.7 in the patients with LMO2 protein expression (according to Kaplan Meier test, long rank p=0.04). Conclusions: We report that the no LMO2 protein expression is correlated with improved overall survival in the MM patients. This method is simple, inexpensive, and effective. We suggest that the expression of LMO2 should be tested in a larger series of MM patients. [Table: see text]