Bone marrow plasma level of decorin may be associated with improved treatment outcomes in a subset of multiple myeloma patients

Background/purpose: Decorin is a small leucine-rich proteoglycan rich in extracellular matrix with potential antitumor activity. However, the role of decorin in hematological malignancies remains unclear, especially in the case of multiple myeloma (MM), a bone marrow (BM) stroma-dependent plasma cell neoplasm.Methods: We measured decorin levels in BM plasma samples from 270 patients with newly diag-nosed MM (NDMM) using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays.Results: Patients were divided into high decorin (H-DCN, > 18.99 ng/mL) and low decorin (L-DCN <9.76 ng/mL) groups. Patients in the H-DCN group had more advanced-stage disease, including more osteolysis terms of higher levels of C-terminal telopeptides of type I collagen (0.69 +/- 0.55 vs. 0.49 +/- 0.36 ng/mL; P = 0.028), than those in the L-DCN group. Decorin levels correlated positively with hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) levels in BM plasma samples from NDMM patients (Pearson correlation coefficient, 0.226; P < 0.001). Patients with low HGF (<0.79 ng/mL) but high decorin levels (>12.95 ng/mL) had a higher treatment response rate (90.5% vs. 54.5%, respectively; P = 0.015) and improved overall survival (not reached vs. 53 months; P = 0.0148) than those with lower decorin levels (<12.95 ng/mL). Multivariate anal-ysis confirmed that a high decorin level was an independent predictive factor for treatment response and survival in patients with low HGF levels.Conclusion: Our findings suggest that decorin may exert protective effects in this subset of MM patients.Copyright 2021, Formosan Medical Association. Published by Elsevier Taiwan LLC. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/bync-nd/4.0/).

Automated summary

The study indicates a positive correlation between decorin levels and hepatocyte growth factor levels in patients with multiple myeloma. Patients with low HGF but high decorin levels showed better treatment response rates and overall survival.