Significance of the detection of paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria clones in patients with multiple myeloma undergoing autologous stem cell transplantation.

Objective/background: There are reports about the presence of paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH) clones in multiple myeloma (MM), but these have been demonstrated only in red blood cells (RBCs) and the previous reports utilized an obsolete diagnostic method. We carried out a study to identify the clones by flow cytometry (FC) and to understand their clinical significance.

Methods: A prospective study on consecutive patients with newly diagnosed MM who were candidates for autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT) from 2008 to 2012.