Hi folks,
I'm new on the forum. My husband, 60,was diagnosed in May with smoldering myeloma after it was discovered in routine bloodwork. He had the bone marrow biopsy, FISH, and PET scan. PET showed no lesions or tumor growth and he has no symptoms so far. But he also has several genetic aberrations, including the TP53 deletion, along with 1q21 gain, 13q deletions, and some others. So we are on 'watch and wait' with 3 month blood screenings. His next screening is next week.
He recently had a health screening for work which showed his cholesterol was 188. It hasn't been this low in several years and in April of this year (6 months ago) it was 317. So a drop of 128 points in 6 months. I have been reading up on the connection and found several things online saying that myeloma cells utilize lipids and cholesterol. He also has a history of very high triglycerides and is on Lovaza (omega-3 acid ethyl esters).
I'm just wondering if it means the disease has become active. We'll find out soon enough, but just wanting to see if anyone has insight into whether the change is a sign of progression, or if it has any other meaning.
We can hope it means he is suddenly healthy as far as cholesterol, but I'm suspicious.
We found out this diagnosis about a week before he planned to give his retirement date. To keep health insurance, he is staying on the job.
I've been reading the forum since May and it's been so informative and helpful.
Forums
6 posts
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Re: Change in cholesterol level - sign of myeloma activity?
Hi Blueskies,
Hmmm, I can't say that I've seen anybody ever mention that phenomenon on this forum.
But the Spanish group that authored this paper on the tie-in between myeloma and cholesterol levels (and other metabolic markers) is well respected in myeloma circles:
Puchades-Carrasco, L, et al, "Multiple myeloma patients have a specific serum metabolomic profile that changes after achieving complete remission," Clinical Cancer Research, Sep 2013 (full text of article)
The above article also references this article:
Yavasoglu, I, et al, "Cholesterol levels in patients with multiple myeloma," Annals of Hematology, March 2008 (abstract)
In any case, I would personally put a lot more stock in looking at your husband's m-spike and free light chain numbers than worrying if his cholesterol level may be signalling that he is progressing. But we all know how hard it is to wait for lab results....
Hmmm, I can't say that I've seen anybody ever mention that phenomenon on this forum.
But the Spanish group that authored this paper on the tie-in between myeloma and cholesterol levels (and other metabolic markers) is well respected in myeloma circles:
Puchades-Carrasco, L, et al, "Multiple myeloma patients have a specific serum metabolomic profile that changes after achieving complete remission," Clinical Cancer Research, Sep 2013 (full text of article)
The above article also references this article:
Yavasoglu, I, et al, "Cholesterol levels in patients with multiple myeloma," Annals of Hematology, March 2008 (abstract)
In any case, I would personally put a lot more stock in looking at your husband's m-spike and free light chain numbers than worrying if his cholesterol level may be signalling that he is progressing. But we all know how hard it is to wait for lab results....
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Multibilly - Name: Multibilly
- Who do you know with myeloma?: Me
- When were you/they diagnosed?: Smoldering, Nov, 2012
Re: Change in cholesterol level - sign of myeloma activity?
Hi Blue,
I was diagnosed with smoldering multiple myeloma in April 2016. My last cholesterol check was in 2015, I can't remember the exact numbers, but I was not in the healthy zone. I decided to have it checked again with my last bloods. My good and bad cholesterol were way into the healthy zones! My lifestyle hasn't been adjusted to any major degree in that time.
The bottom line is I'm happy that aspect of my health is improving; whether there's a link between myeloma and cholesterol? I'm tested every three months, all of the crucial numbers have been relatively stable, so, from my perspective, it's probably not myeloma related.
Has your husband changed his lifestyle since he was diagnosed? Some of us do live 'secret' lives where we hide things from our partners
Maybe he's stopped eating those delicious treats? Has he lost weight?
Anywho, I hope he just smoulders for a long time.
Regards
I was diagnosed with smoldering multiple myeloma in April 2016. My last cholesterol check was in 2015, I can't remember the exact numbers, but I was not in the healthy zone. I decided to have it checked again with my last bloods. My good and bad cholesterol were way into the healthy zones! My lifestyle hasn't been adjusted to any major degree in that time.
The bottom line is I'm happy that aspect of my health is improving; whether there's a link between myeloma and cholesterol? I'm tested every three months, all of the crucial numbers have been relatively stable, so, from my perspective, it's probably not myeloma related.
Has your husband changed his lifestyle since he was diagnosed? Some of us do live 'secret' lives where we hide things from our partners
Maybe he's stopped eating those delicious treats? Has he lost weight? Anywho, I hope he just smoulders for a long time.
Regards
-
Colm - Name: Colm
- Who do you know with myeloma?: Me
- When were you/they diagnosed?: smoldering April 2016
- Age at diagnosis: 56
Re: Change in cholesterol level - sign of myeloma activity?
This is an interesting subject.
I agree with what's been posted already, which is that myeloma disease markers such as the M-spike and free light chain levels are really your best measure of disease activity. It's also useful (and generally easy) to track other closely related lab results, such as your hemoglobin and immunoglobulin levels, since they also can give you a sense of what is going on with your disease.
That being said, I thought I'd throw out a few things for all of us to chew on a bit.
One is that Zometa can affect cholesterol levels, according to the first study I've listed below. Since some people who are diagnosed with smoldering myeloma may be placed on a bisphosphonate such as Zometa soon after diagnosis, this could be a "hidden" factor affecting cholesterol levels in such patients.
Another is that there has been at least one study that has looked specifically at cholesterol levels in people with multiple myeloma (see the second reference below; Multibilly also referenced the study in his post). The study compared cholesterol levels between people with myeloma and people in a control group, and between different subgroups of myeloma patients (for example, between patients with Stage 1 myeloma and patients with higher-stage disease). The researchers found that myeloma patients had lower levels of total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) that people in the control group. Also, the levels of total cholesterol and LDL-C were higher in Stage 1 myeloma patients than in patients with Stage 2 and Stage 3 myeloma.
Finally, many of us here in the forum have heard of research that suggests that drugs used to control cholesterol levels may have an anti-myeloma effect. Multibilly, for example, has been contributing regularly to a great thread discussing the effect of fenofibrate (Tricor) and statins on myeloma.
In a similar vein, there also has been research investigating whether the use of statins has any effect on the risk of someone developing a blood cancer in general, and multiple myeloma in particular. One meta analysis of such studies (the third reference below) finds that the use of statins is associated with a lower risk of developing a blood cancer. However, the authors of the study could not find a consistent connection between statin use and the risk of developing multiple myeloma in particular.
References:
1. Gozzetti, A, et al, "The effects of zoledronic acid on serum lipids in multiple myeloma patients," Calcified Tissue International, Apr 2008 (abstract)
2. Yavasoglu, I, et al, "Cholesterol levels in patients with multiple myeloma," Annals of Hematology, March 2008 (abstract)
3. Pradelli, D, et al, "Statins use and the risk of all and subtype hematological malignancies: a meta-analysis of observational studies," Cancer Medicine, May 2015 (abstract and full text of article)
I agree with what's been posted already, which is that myeloma disease markers such as the M-spike and free light chain levels are really your best measure of disease activity. It's also useful (and generally easy) to track other closely related lab results, such as your hemoglobin and immunoglobulin levels, since they also can give you a sense of what is going on with your disease.
That being said, I thought I'd throw out a few things for all of us to chew on a bit.
One is that Zometa can affect cholesterol levels, according to the first study I've listed below. Since some people who are diagnosed with smoldering myeloma may be placed on a bisphosphonate such as Zometa soon after diagnosis, this could be a "hidden" factor affecting cholesterol levels in such patients.
Another is that there has been at least one study that has looked specifically at cholesterol levels in people with multiple myeloma (see the second reference below; Multibilly also referenced the study in his post). The study compared cholesterol levels between people with myeloma and people in a control group, and between different subgroups of myeloma patients (for example, between patients with Stage 1 myeloma and patients with higher-stage disease). The researchers found that myeloma patients had lower levels of total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) that people in the control group. Also, the levels of total cholesterol and LDL-C were higher in Stage 1 myeloma patients than in patients with Stage 2 and Stage 3 myeloma.
Finally, many of us here in the forum have heard of research that suggests that drugs used to control cholesterol levels may have an anti-myeloma effect. Multibilly, for example, has been contributing regularly to a great thread discussing the effect of fenofibrate (Tricor) and statins on myeloma.
In a similar vein, there also has been research investigating whether the use of statins has any effect on the risk of someone developing a blood cancer in general, and multiple myeloma in particular. One meta analysis of such studies (the third reference below) finds that the use of statins is associated with a lower risk of developing a blood cancer. However, the authors of the study could not find a consistent connection between statin use and the risk of developing multiple myeloma in particular.
References:
1. Gozzetti, A, et al, "The effects of zoledronic acid on serum lipids in multiple myeloma patients," Calcified Tissue International, Apr 2008 (abstract)
2. Yavasoglu, I, et al, "Cholesterol levels in patients with multiple myeloma," Annals of Hematology, March 2008 (abstract)
3. Pradelli, D, et al, "Statins use and the risk of all and subtype hematological malignancies: a meta-analysis of observational studies," Cancer Medicine, May 2015 (abstract and full text of article)
Re: Change in cholesterol level - sign of myeloma activity?
Hi Blueskies,
I came across your post a couple months ago when I was initially worried about a myeloma diagnosis. In addition to some mild anemia and elevated protein, my routine physical also showed an 80-point drop in cholesterol from 2 years before. It dropped from 222 to 144 with no change in diet or lifestyle (if anything, I would have expected it to have gone up).
I mentioned that this concerned me to both my GP and, later, the hematologist. Neither had any information about lowered cholesterol in multiple myeloma, but I was eventually diagnosed with stage 3 disease. I have no doubt that the two are connected.
I hope that your husband's disease is still smoldering! But I wanted to leave this reply for others who may be researching the same issue. I'd be curious to know how common cholesterol changes are in undiagnosed myeloma and other cancers.
-W
I came across your post a couple months ago when I was initially worried about a myeloma diagnosis. In addition to some mild anemia and elevated protein, my routine physical also showed an 80-point drop in cholesterol from 2 years before. It dropped from 222 to 144 with no change in diet or lifestyle (if anything, I would have expected it to have gone up).
I mentioned that this concerned me to both my GP and, later, the hematologist. Neither had any information about lowered cholesterol in multiple myeloma, but I was eventually diagnosed with stage 3 disease. I have no doubt that the two are connected.
I hope that your husband's disease is still smoldering! But I wanted to leave this reply for others who may be researching the same issue. I'd be curious to know how common cholesterol changes are in undiagnosed myeloma and other cancers.
-W
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willow75 - Who do you know with myeloma?: me
- When were you/they diagnosed?: 2017
- Age at diagnosis: 42
Re: Change in cholesterol level - sign of myeloma activity?
Thanks for your reply, willow75. It is very interesting that you have the cholesterol drop also.
My husband is doing fine. He has bloodwork done this week, so we'll see how his numbers are.
My husband is doing fine. He has bloodwork done this week, so we'll see how his numbers are.
6 posts
• Page 1 of 1