Unveiling skeletal fragility in patients diagnosed with MGUS: No longer a condition of undetermined significance?

Abstract

Monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS) is a common finding in clinical practice, affecting greater than 3% of adults aged 50 years and older. As originally described, the term MGUS reflected the inherent clinical uncertainty of distinguishing patients with a benign stable monoclonal plasma cell disorder from subjects destined to progress to malignancy. There is now clear epidemiologic evidence, however, that patients with MGUS suffer from a significantly increased fracture risk and that the prevalence of MGUS is increased in patients with osteoporosis. Despite this relationship, no clinical care guidelines exist for the routine evaluation or treatment of the skeletal health of patients with MGUS. Recent work has demonstrated that circulating levels of at least two cytokines (CCL3/MIP-1α and DKK1) with well-recognized roles in bone disease in the related monoclonal gammopathy multiple myeloma are also increased in patients with MGUS. Further, recent imaging studies using high-resolution peripheral quantitative CT have documented that patients with MGUS have substantial skeletal microarchitectural deterioration and deficits in biomechanical bone strength that likely underlie the increased skeletal fragility in these patients. Accordingly, this Perspective provides evidence that the "undetermined significance" portion of the MGUS acronym may be best replaced in favor of the term "monoclonal gammopathy of skeletal significance" (MGSS) in order to more accurately reflect the enhanced skeletal risks inherent in this condition.