POEMS Syndrome - Pathogenesis

Pathogenesis

While the main features of the disease have been described, the exact mechanism of the disease has remained elusive. The paraprotein alone is insufficient to explain the multi-organ features, and various cytokines produced by plasmacytoma cells have therefore been linked with the features of POEMS syndrome, specifically interleukin 1β, interleukin 6 and TNFα. There also seems to be a role of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), given the angiogenetic changes in many tissues.