A weakly positive but statistically significant association between HLA-Cw5 and myeloma has been reported in black patients. The authors attempted to determine whether immunoglobulin allotypes of the Cm series demonstrate any such association. They were identified in the sera of 29 black patients and 160 healthy black control subjects by a standard hemagglutination-inhibition technique. The results indicate that the C3m(g5) allotype is significantly associated with myeloma. Furthermore, addition of that immunoglobulin allotype to a Gm phenotype that is netatively associated with myeloma gives a phenotype that is positively associated with the disease, both associations being statistically significant. It was concluded that G3m(g5) is a marker of inherited susceptibility to myeloma in black Americans. Furthermore, as C3m(g5) is present in almost 50% of normal control subjects, it was proposed that its expression in a much greater proportion of patients may be related to an underlying genetic rearrangement that is also associated with neoplastic transformation.
Cancer 55:1473-1476, 1985.
N IMMUNOPATHOLOGIC TERMS, multiple myeloma is I classified as a lymphoproliferative malignancy of Bcell lineage. Many different factors have been implicated in the etiology of the disease in man, and these may be considered generally as either environmental or genetic.
As regards environmental factors, many reports, reviewed by Cuzick,' have suggested that ionizing radiation may induce myeloma. Other reports, reviewed by Blattner.' suggest that occupational exposure to certain chemicals may induce myeloma, but the observations are preliminary in nature. There is little evidence for a viral etiology in myeloma,* although virus-like particle^^,^ and Rauscher leukemia virus sequences have been reported in spleen cells.5 Finally, chronic antigenic stimulation has been implicated, but the evidence in favor of that is largely anecdotal.'
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Preliminary results of this study were presented briefly at a meeting of the American Federation for Clinical Research in New Orleans on