A study published in Hematology showed that the extracellular cysteine proteinase inhibitor cystatin C has strong diagnostic and prognostic worth in multiple myeloma (MM).
“The role of cystatin C in MM has been revealed recently. The purpose of this study was to explore the role of cystatin C as a proteasome inhibitor in MM,” the research authors wrote.
In this study, the researchers performed a thorough literature review via PubMed of any evidence on cystatin C in MM. To do so, all English literature sources published since 1999 were examined using the terms cystatin C and MM.
According to the results, cystatin C is a robust indicator for MM diagnosis and has a dual role in myeloma bone disease. Moreover, the researchers noted that cystatin C reflects tumor burden and is strongly correlated with prognosis in patients with MM.
The researchers concluded, “Cystatin C have great diagnostic and prognostic value in MM. It can provide a new treatment direction for MM by designing and searching for antagonists of cystatin C or cysteine protease agonists using cystatin C as a therapeutic target.”
