Progress in Myeloma: Biology of Myeloma is a collection of research studies dealing with the clinical and experimental plasma cell tumors. This work is composed of 14 chapters that provide a particularly advantageous basis for defining in biochemical and genetic terms the nature of critical alterations in the neoplastic transformation of immunoglobulin producing cells. The introductory chapters survey the epidemiology of multiple myeloma and related plasma cell disorders, as well as the mechanism of in vitro bone resorption by human myeloma cells. The subsequent chapters describe the clinical manifestations of the Waldenström''s macroglobulinemia in black and white South Africans; myeloma models to evaluate the activation and suppression of normal lymphocytes; and the cellular and molecular mechanisms of murine myeloma cell growth and differentiation regulation. These topics are followed by discussions of the characteristics of multiple myeloma as an immunodeficiency disease, the myeloma growth kinetics, and the extent of clonal involvement in multiple myeloma. A chapter explores the use of anti-idiotypic antibodies in the regulation of the myeloma tumor cell growth and non-neoplastic B cell clones. The concluding chapters look into the chromosomal changes, therapeutic trials, and genetic basis of myeloma. This book will prove useful to oncologists, cell biologists, immunologists, and researchers.
