A retrospective analysis of ten symptomatic multiple myeloma patients with HIV infection: A potential therapeutic effect of HAART in multiple myeloma

Concomitant HIV infection in newly diagnosed multiple myeloma patients is hard to recognise and should be tested for routinely in areas of high endemicity

“…[26] Li et al [16] found ages and age differences that are comparable to our study. In contrast, the age difference was not significant in this study, possibly owing to their small population size.…”

“…[30] The HIV-positive patients in this study presented with relatively high CD4 counts, in contrast to patients with HIV-related nonHodgkin lymphomas, most of whom have more advanced HIV infection and a CD4 count <100 cells/µL. [31,32] Our findings are in line with the even higher CD4 counts in the HIV-positive MM patients studied by Li et al [16] Konstantinopoulos et al [33] performed protein electrophoreses and measured quantitative immunoglobulin levels in samples from 320 consecutive HIV-positive patients. Younger age and higher CD4 cell counts were significantly associated with monoclonal or oligoclonal banding, suggesting that younger HIVpositive patients with a more robust immune system (reflected by a higher CD4 count), which in this case is stimulated by uncontrolled viraemia, are most likely to have an augmented B-cell response to HIV infection.…”

“…In contrast to what might be suspected from cases described previously, no significant differences were found in the characteristics of the HIV-positive patients RESEARCH compared with their HIV-negative counterparts, with age, gender, renal function, bone lesions and stage of disease all being similar. [16] Other recently published case reports and single-centre experiences have shown similar favourable responses and increased survival in HIV-positive MM patients treated with either thalidomide-based chemotherapy or myeloablative chemotherapy and autologous stemcell transplantation. [16][17][18][19][20] In a phase I study, the HIV protease inhibitor nelfinavir was considered safe and showed promising activity in patients with advanced bortezomib-refractory MM by triggering the unfolded protein response and thereby overcoming the biological features of proteasome inhibitor resistance in these patients.…”

“…[12][13][14][15] Many of these studies highlight the difficulties in diagnosis of MM in HIV-positive patients, as the two diseases share some common clinical features, especially anaemia, fatigue, weight loss, bone marrow plasmacytosis, renal insufficiency and recurrent bacterial infections. In 2014, Li et al [16] published a retrospective analysis of 10 symptomatic HIV-positive MM patients treated for both conditions. They found that HIV-positive patients on highly active antiretroviral therapy had significantly superior overall survival and progression-free survival compared with their HIVnegative counterparts, making early recognition of patients suffering from both diseases even more necessary.…”

“…In contrast, the age difference was not significant in this study, possibly owing to their small population size. [16] Many cancers are diagnosed at a younger age in HIV-positive patients than among uninfected individuals. [27] One explanation for the lower age in the HIV-positive group may be that HIV infection is more prevalent among younger adults than elderly patients.…”