Expression of basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) in myeloma cells.

Basic FGF transcripts (277 bp) in human myeloma cell lines (A) and in CD38^high/CD138⁺ sorted myeloma cells from the bone marrow of representative patients (B; UPN nos. 1-6) were analyzed by RT-PCR. No bFGF transcripts were detected in the CD38⁻/CD138⁻ nontumor cell fraction of corresponding marrow samples (C; UPN nos. 1-3). Peripheral blood B lymphocytes (PBB-Ls) obtained from healthy volunteers served as additional negative controls (D). DNA ladder marker (M) indicates 300 bp (upper rows) and 200 bp (lower rows). Glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH; 226 bp) was used as a control for RNA integrity. C indicates nontemplate PCR control.