Syndecan-1 is targeted to the uropod of primary malignant and normal plasma cells.

Primary malignant plasma cells from the peripheral blood of a patient with plasma cell leukemia (A-D) and from the BM of a patient with MM (E-H) were cultured for 2 hours and stained at 37°C against syndecan-1. (A), (C), (E), (G), and (I) are phase contrast micrographs and show the same visual fields as (B), (D), (F), (H), and (J), respectively. The immunofluorescence micrographs (B), (D), (F), and (H) show polarization of syndecan-1 in cells expressing uropods, whereas cells without uropods have syndecan-1 evenly distributed. Similar syndecan-1 polarization was an uncommon observation in normal bone marrow plasma cells (I-J). Arrows point to uropods and arrowheads to cell bodies. Pictures (A-B) were photographed with an analog camera, (C-J) with a digital camera.