Prognostic relevance of aurora-A expression for 2 independent groups of patients treated with high-dose therapy and autologous stem cell transplantation. Shown are (A) event-free survival (EFS) and (B) overall survival (OS) in our cohort of patients (left side) and in the Arkansas group (right side) for absence (black curve) versus presence (gray curve) of aurora-A expression in CD138-purified myeloma cells. Presence of aurora-A expression in myeloma cells is an adverse prognostic factor in terms of EFS and OS in both groups. HM-group, Heidelberg/Montpellier-group.