Telomere shortening in patients with plasma cell disorders

: Objectives: Telomeres are essential for maintaining chromosomal integrity; their shortening is associated with chromosome instability. The aim of this work was to study telomere length (TL) on bone marrow (BM) cells from patients with multiple myeloma (MM) and monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS). Methods: Thirty‐one MM patients: 12 at diagnosis (D), 11 at relapse (R) and eight at remission (RE) and two cases with MGUS were studied. TL based on terminal restriction fragment (TRF) assay was evaluated. Cytogenetic and molecular cytogenetic analyses were performed. Telomeric associations (TAs) on BM metaphases were also studied. Results: TRF analysis in total MM patients showed a mean TRF peak value (5.20 ± 0.35 kb) shorter than those observed in controls (8.5 ± 0.5 kb) (P