IL6 and plasma cell myeloma: Several authors investigating serum IL-6 in relation to acute-phase reactants and survival in myeloma patients report not only significantly shorter survival for those with higher concentrations of IL-6 compared with patients who had normal concentrations (Ludwig et al, 1991; Pulkki et al, 1996; Papadaki et al, 1997; Stasi et al, 1998), but also demonstrate a strong positive correlation between IL-6 and CRP (Tienhaara et al, 1994; Pelliniemi et al, 1995; Kyriakou et al, 1997; Biro et al, 1998; Alexandrakis et al, 2003).