…It began with my reading a message from a MGUS blog reader who had contacted me last fall, after noticing that her markers, especially the freelite ones, were steadily worsening. After receiving my reply, she began the curcumin protocol. Today she received her test results: normal. No, I am not kidding: NORMAL. And her freelite chains are too small to be quantified. She is ecstatic, of course, and so am I! Ah yes!
I also had a very good day at work…and, when I got home, I found a message on Facebook from a childhood friend whom I had looked up and contacted yesterday evening. Enough to put a big grin on my face…but there is more. Another blog reader, who takes six grams of curcumin, informed me that he found out today that he is still stable. Stable…one of my favorite words in the dictionary…fantastico!
This evening I am having dinner with my girlfriends (we are playing cards after dinner, naturellement…)…which reminds me…oh no, where did the time go? It’s late, and I still have to ice my carrot cake…off I go! Well, I hope everyone has a great evening, wherever you are…!
Hi Margaret,
I’m a young italian woman (and i’m sorry for my bed english). One year ago, after a bed viral infection, i found that i was affect by MGUS. I’ve just a modest quantity of M protein, but i’m very frightened abut a progression of this blood alteration. So, i’d like to make something to avoid it. Have you some advise for me? I’ve read about a “curcumn protocol”. What is? May it help my situation?
Thank you for the attention and the response…
Absolutely SUPER!
Fabulous!!
A diagnostic measure called plasma cell labeling index (PCLI) can help predict the likelihood that someone with smoldering multiple myeloma will progress to multiple myeloma, wrote researchers in a letter to the editor published in this month’s Mayo Clinic Proceedings.
People with smoldering multiple myeloma have abnormal levels of certain cells and proteins in their blood, but do not feel the symptoms of multiple myeloma. However, they are at risk of progressing to symptomatic, or active, myeloma later.
The amount of plasma cells in a patient’s bone marrow and the amount of M protein in a patient’s blood, or serum, are already used in determining prognoses for people with smoldering myeloma. However, PCLI may provide finer-tuned prognoses, especially for people with a medium-risk prognosis according to their bone marrow plasma cell and M protein amounts.
PCLI measures how quickly cancerous plasma cells are multiplying. Studies have shown that it is an excellent way of determining the prognosis of someone who has been newly diagnosed with active multiple myeloma. Those with PCLI greater than one have a poorer prognosis than those who have PCLI less than one.
In their letter to the editor, Mayo Clinic researchers wrote about a study they conducted that shows that PCLI may also be an excellent indictor of outcome in smoldering myeloma.
The researchers looked at 161 people who were diagnosed with smoldering multiple myeloma and received a plasma cell labeling test. The scientists divided their patients into three groups based on the patients’ bone marrow plasma cell and M protein amounts. For these two measures, greater numbers correspond to poorer prognoses.
Patients with more than 10 percent bone marrow plasma cells but less than 3 g/dL serum M protein have been shown to have an intermediate-risk of progressing to active myeloma and a median time to progression of 8 years. In this study, patients in this group who had PCLI greater than one had a higher risk of progressing to active multiple myeloma than those who had PCLI less than one.
Two years after their smoldering myeloma was diagnosed, 75 percent of patients with PCLI greater than one progressed to multiple myeloma, compared to 21 percent of patients with PCLI less than one. After five years, all of the patients with PCLI greater than one had multiple myeloma, compared to 43 percent of patients with PCLI less than one.
Patients with both bone marrow plasma cells greater than 10 percent and serum M protein greater than 3 g/dL—the poorest prognostic numbers— have previously been shown to progress within two years. For people in this group, there was not a statistically significant difference between those with a PCLI greater than one and those with a PCLI less than one.
Among least at-risk smoldering myeloma patients, who have less than 10 percent bone marrow plasma cells and greater than 3 g/dL serum M protein, median time to progression has been shown to be 19 years. In this study, all patients in this group had PCLI less than one, so researchers were not able to make any comparisons.
In their letter, researchers concluded that PCLI is a useful risk factor for people with smoldering multiple myeloma. Doctors who know about their patients’ greater risk for developing multiple myeloma might use that information during follow-up visits, and researchers can use PCLI to design more specific clinical trials.
According to the researchers, the main drawback to PCLI is that it is not widely available. They suggested scientists study other tests that, like PCLI, measure the rate at which cancerous plasma cells are spreading. This rate may be key to yielding more specific diagnoses for people with smoldering multiple myeloma.