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Biochemical Markers of Bone Formation in Patients with Plasma Cell Dyscrasias and Benign Osteoporosis

¹ Department of Medicine I, Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism, University of Heidelberg, Bergheimerstrasse 58, D-69115 Heidelberg, Germany.

² First Department of Medicine, Wilhelminenspital, Vienna A-1171, Austria.
^a Author for correspondence. Fax 49-6221-564101; e-mail Henning_Woitge{at}med.uni-heidelberg.de.

Background: Myeloma-induced bone loss is related to an uncoupling of bone formation and bone resorption. The aim of the present study was to assess the potential clinical value of biochemical markers of bone formation in the work up of patients with plasma cell dyscrasias.

Methods: Serum total alkaline phosphatase, bone-specific alkaline phosphatase (BAP), and osteocalcin (OC) were measured in 43 patients with newly diagnosed multiple myeloma (MM), in 40 patients with monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS), in 40 patients with untreated benign vertebral osteoporosis (OPO), and in 48 healthy adults.

Results: In MM and MGUS patients, serum BAP, but not serum OC, was lower than in healthy controls (P <0.05). Serum OC was higher in patients with OPO than in healthy controls (P <0.05). The strongest associations between markers were found in OPO patients and in healthy adults. MM patients with early-stage disease or without detectable osteolysis had decreased serum BAP values (P <0.05). Serum OC was higher in MM patients with stage III disease (P <0.05) than in healthy controls. MM patients with OPO-like bone involvement had lower BAP values than sex- and age-matched MGUS patients with OPO-like bone involvement and patients with benign OPO (P <0.05).

Conclusions: In patients with plasma cell dyscrasias, serum BAP, rather than serum OC, appears to reflect a suppressed bone formation rate and may be helpful in the differentiation between benign and myeloma-induced OPO. However, the overall clinical use of biochemical markers of bone formation in patients with plasma cell dyscrasia appears limited.

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