The level of TACI gene expression in myeloma cells is associated with a signature of microenvironment dependence versus a plasmablastic signature

B-cell activating factor (BAFF) and a proliferation-inducing ligand (APRIL) have been shown to promote multiple myeloma (MM) cell growth. We show that the main site of production for BAFF and APRIL is the bone marrow (BM) environment, and that production is mainly by monocytes and neutrophils. In addition, osteoclasts produce very high levels of APRIL, unlike BM stromal cells. Myeloma cells (MMCs) express TACI (transmembrane activator and calcium modulator and cyclophilin ligand interactor), the receptor of BAFF/ APRIL, at varying levels. TACI expres-sion is a good indicator of a BAFF-binding receptor. Expression data of purified MMCs from 65 newly diagnosed patients have been generated using Affymetrix microarrays and were analyzed by supervised clustering of groups with higher (TACI(hi)) versus lower (TACI(lo)) TACI expression levels. Patients in the TACI(lo) group had clinical parameters associated with bad prognosis. A set of 659 genes was differentially expressed between TACIhi and TACI(lo) MMCs. This set makes it possible to efficiently classify TACO(hi) and TACI(lo) MMCs in an independent cohort of 40 patients. TACl(hi).