Résumé
Accumulating evidence has suggested that the transformation of a normal plasma cell into a malignant myeloma cell is a multiple-step process. Genotypic changes are found in 60% of patients at diagnosis by conventional karyotyping and in up to 90% of patients<br />by FISH analysis. The portrayal of this complex alteration of the cellular circuitry and cellular behavior in myeloma cells will best be apprehended by the use of DNA microarrays. Indeed, gene-expression profiling using microarrays allows the simultaneous analysis of multiple markers and is thus an ideal tool to study the global changes that drive a normal cell to malignancy. Among the numerous genes that have a higher expression level in malignant plasma cells, we have focused our study on a few genes that encode for proteins that could be involved in myeloma biology or could be potential therapeutic targets such as HB-EGF.