%0 Journal Article
%T Plasma cell disorders in HIV-infected patients: epidemiology and molecular mechanisms
%A Woodrow J Coker
%A Ashley Jeter
%A Henning Schade
%A Yubin Kang
%J Biomarker Research
%D 2013
%I BioMed Central
%R 10.1186/2050-7771-1-8
%X Since the introduction of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) between late 1996 and early 1997, the survival of HIV-infected patients has dramatically improved [1]. In developed countries, most HIV-infected patients live several decades after their diagnosis. Due to the effectiveness of broad-spectrum antibiotics and anti-fungal agents, fewer HIV-infected patients die from life-threatening opportunistic infections. This improvement in the long-term survival of HIV-infected patients has raised public health and clinical awareness of increased risks of cancer within this population. However, HIV-infected individuals tend to be excluded from the clinical trials used to establish current practice guidelines for cancer treatment. As a result, clinical and therapy outcome data are extremely scarce for HIV-infected patients with cancer. Hematologists and medical oncologists face with the increasingly difficult challenge of providing optimal treatment for HIV patients with cancer.HIV-infected patients have increased risks for plasma cell disorders [2-6]. Plasma cell disorders in HIV-infected patients can manifest as polyclonal hypergammaglobulinemia, monoclonal gammopathy, or symptomatic multiple myeloma (MM). Polyclonal hypergammaglobulinemia is characterized by an increased production of several different immunoglobulins and diffusely increased proteins in the gamma region on serum protein electrophoresis (SPEP). Monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS) is defined by the presence of a serum monoclonal protein (M-protein) at a level < 3£¿g/dl, clonal bone marrow plasma cells <10%, and the absence of end-organ damage (lytic bone lesion, anemia, hypercalcemia or renal failure) related to the proliferative process [7,8]. MM is a plasma cell malignancy and is characterized by the presence of M-protein, the infiltration of clonal plasma cells in the bone marrow (¡Ý10%) and the evidence of end-organ damage [7,8]. Understanding the characteristics and mole
%K HIV
%K AIDS
%K Gammopathy
%K Multiple myeloma
%K Epidemiology
%K Molecular mechanism
%K Treatment
%K Outcome
%K Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation
%U http://www.biomarkerres.org/content/1/1/8