Anti cd138 coated magnetic beads

In order to select plasma cells from BMA samples of MM and SMM patients, we performed CD138-positive selection among mononuclear cells of BMA as a method of choice. CD138, officially known as Syndecan 1, is a transmembrane (type I) heparan sulfate proteoglycan encoded by the human SDC1 gene; its expression is considered to be a hallmark of MM cells and plasma cells in the bone marrow [31 (link),32 (link),33 (link)]. Therefore, 10 mL of BMA were collected in tubes containing ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) and BMA samples were processed, immediately after collection, for CD138 enrichment. More specifically, the Ficoll-Paque technique was used to isolate mononuclear cells from BMA. Following that, a positive selection of CD138+ plasma cells was performed using anti-CD138–coated magnetic beads (Miltenyi Biotec, Bergisch Gladbach, Germany).

Ten (10) mL of BMA from each participant were collected in tubes containing ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA). The BMA samples were processed immediately after collection for CD138+ selection. The BMA mononuclear cells were first isolated using the Ficoll–Paque technique. After that, anti-CD138–coated magnetic beads (Miltenyi Biotech, Bergisch Gladbach, Germany) were used to perform a positive selection of CD138+ plasma cells.