RESUMO
Patients always have different responses to the same treatment due to the heterogeneity of multiple myeloma (MM). However, the relationship between monoclonal protein (M-protein) reduction rates during treatment and survival prognosis in MM patients remains controversial. We retrospectively analyzed 198 newly diagnosed MM patients who received regular bortezomib-based chemotherapy for at least 2 cycles and subsequent autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT) plus continuous maintenance. The relationship between the early M-protein reduction rates and survival prognosis was evaluated. This study is the first to divide patients into three patterns, namely, A, B, and C, according to the M-protein reduction rate during the first two therapy cycles. The results showed that pattern B patients with progressive reduction in M-protein had better progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) than did pattern A or C patients with precipitating or slow M-protein reduction (75.33 ± 18.81 versus 41.23 ± 9.13 or 26.60 ± 6.67 months; P < 0.001; 117.33 ± 18.44 versus 71.00 ± 10.06 or 39.73 ± 24.10 months; P = 0.003, respectively). In addition, biological analysis showed that pattern A + C patients had higher international staging system (ISS) stage III proportions (P = 0.008) and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) elevations (P = 0.044) than pattern B patients. Furthermore, pattern A + C was a significant independent adverse parameter for PFS and OS (HR = 2.62, P = 0.001; HR = 2.15, P = 0.022, respectively). Thus, our results demonstrate that pattern A + C indicates an inferior survival prognosis in MM.