Further research is required to make allogeneic transplants less dangerous and to find methods for initiating an autoimmune response to the myeloma cells.

These myeloma cells had a deficiency in the ability to adhere to one another in a rotation-mediated aggregation matrix.

Hence, unfused myeloma cells die, as they cannot produce nucleotides by de novo or salvage pathway.

But they did not find the virus in the myeloma cells of 23 patients.

This procedure is now used extensively, for example by fusing B-cells with myeloma cells.

As the number of myeloma cells increases, fewer red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets are made.

The myeloma cells also damage and weaken the hard parts of the bones.

For multiple myeloma, beta-2-microglobulin, M protein, and other proteins made by the myeloma cells are measured.

Malignant myeloma cells produce a protein in the blood that is reduced among patients responding to thalidomide therapy.

These findings raise the possibility that thalidomide has a potent effect on the immune system or may even kill myeloma cells directly.