Figure 3.

Frequency of blood plasmacytoid dendritic cells in multiple myeloma patients before and after treatment with lenalidomide. Frequency of plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDCs) was calculated amongst total peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) (at least 2×10⁶ cells) from peripheral blood using flow cytometry. pDCs were detected as BDCA-2-positive population in the lineage (CD3, CD14, CD15, CD16, CD19, and CD56)-negative, CD11c-negative, and CD4-positive fraction. (A) A representative flow cytometry analysis showing pDCs in PBMCs from six newly-diagnosed multiple myeloma (MM) patients before treatment. Numbers indicate percentages of the gated fraction amongst total PBMCs. (B) Each dot shown is derived from 10 healthy donors and six newly-diagnosed MM patients before and after one cycle of lenalidomide (LEN)-dexamethasone administration. Statistical significance was determined using unpaired Student’s t-tests of healthy donors versus MM patients before LEN treatment, or paired Student’s t-tests of MM patients before LEN treatment versus MM patients after LEN treatment.