Familial myeloma: Report of eight families and a study of serum proteins in their relatives

Abstract

During a 6 year period, eight instances of familial occurrence of myeloma involving siblings (16 cases of myeloma and 3 of probable benign monoclonal gammopathy) were encountered at the Mayo Clinic. No other monoclonal serum protein abnormalities were found in 70 relatives studied. In view of the infrequency of myeloma, the high familial occurrence of this disease suggests the possibility of genetic factors in its etiology. It is most important that a complete family history be obtained from patients with myeloma.