[Maryhosier]

Oligosecretory - what does it mean?

by Maryhosier on Mon May 11, 2015 6:54 pm

Just wanted to chime in on my bone marrow biopsy (BMB) results, which I first mentioned in an earlier discussion:

"FISH results - positive for MAF deletion?" (started May 6, 2015)

My original myeloma was IgG kappa. I was diagnosed in January 2011. I also had 1q21.

After stem cell September 2011, I had stringent complete remission with no 1q21.

Now I am IgA kappa light chain. My light chains started increasing and that is when I had a bone marrow biopsy that showed the MAF deletion and 13q deletion. I have 10% plasma cells bone marrow.

My doctor tells me I am now oligosecretory. Very confusing to me.

I go back to my specialist in June. Anyone have a situation like mine?

Thanks, Mary

[Multibilly]

Re: Oligosecretory - what does it mean?

by Multibilly on Mon May 11, 2015 7:52 pm

Hi Mary,

See Dr. Cohen's comments for a definition of oligo­se­cre­tory multiple myeloma in this forum thread:

"Oligosecretory and nonsecretory myeloma - any difference?" (started May 30, 2012)

Dr. Cohen wrote:

Oligosecretory means the cells make a small amount of protein, but much less than would be expected based on the amount of cells in the marrow. The treatment of non­secretory or oligo­secretory myeloma is not generally different from myeloma that makes a lot of M-protein, but patients usually need to have serial bone marrow biopsies to see if the disease is responding to treatment, since you can't rely on the blood and urine tests (since there's little to no protein to measure)."

Additionally, it seems like you also went through an "isotype switch" post-transplant, where you now have a new dominant clone (IgA kappa) instead of your original IgG kappa type disease, right?

And I'm guessing that, since your doctor said you are oligosecretory, that your M-spike is pretty small and that your serum kappa FLC level is not much over the normal range?

Disclaimer: I'm still trying to get my terminology straight when it comes to describing these kinds of phenomena.