SDC1 and neoplasm: Furthermore, our study also observed that MCT1 expression was implicated in MM tumor progression with mRNA expression levels increasing from benign (MGUS) to malignant disease (MM), which supports prior studies that showed that CD147 expression (the chaperone protein for MCT1) on CD138 + MM cells was regulated by MYC and p53, both of which are key players in MM pathogenesis and prognosis [19–22] and is also associated with levels increasing from MGUS to MM in conjunction with an increased presence of M2 tumor-associated macrophages [23].