Relationships of abnormal plasma cell CD27 expression and immune phenotype with tumor prognosis in patients with multiple myeloma

Objective To explore the CD27 expression level of abnormal plasma cells in patients with multiple myeloma (MM) and immune phenotype and the relationships with tumor prognosis.

Methods A retrospective analysis was conducted on the data of 61 newly diagnosed MM patients to evaluate the expression level of CD27 in abnormal plasma cells, and the differences in clinical indicators between CD27-positive and CD27-negative MM patients were compared. The efficacy of CD27-positive and CD27-negative MM patients was analyzed after four cycles of chemotherapy, and all patients receiving treatment in the hospital were followed up for survival analysis.

Results Among the 61 patients, 21 had positive expression of CD27 in abnormal bone marrow plasma cells (CD27-positive group), and 40 had negative expression (CD27-negative group). The CD27-positive group had a lower proportion of CD56+ abnormal plasma cells and creatinine levels in peripheral blood and a higher lymphocyte count than the CD27-negative group (P < 0.05). The CD27-positive group also exhibited lower levels of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), β₂-microglobulin, and β₂-globulin proportion than the CD27-negative group (P < 0.05). The proportion of IGH rearrangement patients was higher in the CD27-negative group than that in the CD27-positive group (P < 0.05). The CD27-negative group had a higher proportion of patients with partial response (PR) and PR+stable disease (SD)+progressive disease (PD), and a lower proportion of patients with complete response (CR) and very good partial response (VGPR) compared to the CD27-positive group(P < 0.05). The 1- and 2-year survival rates were higher in the CD27-positive group than in the CD27-negative group (P < 0.05). Kaplan-Meier survival analysis revealed that the median overall survival and median progression-free survival were 28 and 27 months, respectively, in the CD27-positive group, which was longer than the 24 and 23 months in the CD27-negative group (P < 0.05).

Conclusion Low expression of CD27 in abnormal plasma cells of multiple myeloma patients may be associated with poor prognosis.