Transcriptional features of multiple myeloma patients with chromosome 1q gain

Abnormalities of chromosome 1 are among the mostfrequent chromosomal alterations in multiple myeloma(MM), being found in up to 45% of patients.1,2 It has beenreported that the short arm of chromosome 1 is preferentiallyinvolved in deletions, whereas the long arm is associatedwith amplification. The gain of 1q (1q/gain) can occur asisochromosomes, duplications or jumping translocations. Ithas been widely reported that 1q/gain MM patients arecharacterized by complex karyotypes and aggressive disease,and a close association with poor-risk genetic features, suchas chromosome 13q deletion (D13) and the t(4;14) translocationhas also been described.1 It has been recentlydemonstrated that gains/amplification of 1q21 increase asthe condition goes from smoldering to overt MM, thussuggesting that these regions contain critical genes for diseaseprogression.2 These findings along with the limited informationconcerning specific transcriptional profiles prompted us tomolecularly characterize 1q/gain MMs by FISH and microarrayanalyses.