New biomarkers of ferric management in multiple myeloma and kidney disease-associated anemia

Multiple myeloma (MM) is a malignancy of clonal plasma cells accounting for approximately 10% of haematological malignancies. MM mainly affects older patients, more often males and is more frequently seen in African Americans. The most frequent manifestations of MM are anaemia, osteolytic bone lesions, kidney failure and hypercalcemia. The anaemia develops secondary to suppression of erythropoiesis by cytokine networks, similarly to the mechanism of anaemia of chronic disease. The concomitant presence of kidney failure, especially chronic kidney disease (CKD) and MM per se, leading to anaemia of chronic disease (ACD) in combination, provoked us to pose the question about their reciprocal dependence and relationship with specific biomarkers; namely, soluble transferrin receptor (sTfR), growth differentiation factor 15 (GDF15), hepcidin 25 and zonulin. One or more of these are new biomarkers of ferric management may be utilized in the near future as prognostic predictors for patients with MM and kidney failure.