We read the study by Seidel et al (2002) with interest. The authors stated that hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) levels had not been previously examined in serum from younger myeloma patients nor in patients treated with high-dose chemotherapy. In 2001, we published an analysis of serum HGF levels in 67 patients with multiple myeloma or monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS) and in 20 control subjects (Sezer et al, 2001). Furthermore, we simultaneously measured circulating serum levels of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF), two additional angiogenic cytokines produced by myeloma cells. The age range of our myeloma patients was 39–86 years. No correlation of the HGF serum levels with age was found in either the myeloma patients or control subjects. In 32 myeloma patients treated with conventional or high-dose chemotherapy, preand post-treatment samples were analysed. Within the subgroup of patients who achieved a complete or partial response, there was a significant decrease in HGF, VEGF and bFGF values after therapy in comparison with their pretreatment levels (Sezer et al, 2001). The decrease occurred both in patients treated with conventional and high-dose chemotherapy. In contrast to this group, the patients who did not achieve remission showed no significant change in serum HGF, VEGF and bFGF levels (Sezer et al, 2000). In conclusion, these results indicated that the reduction of HGF levels is related to the chemotherapy-induced remission in multiple myeloma, irrespective of the dose level of the chemotherapy used. Christian Jakob Claudia Fleissner Ivana Zavrski Ulrike Heider Kurt Possinger Orhan Sezer Department of Haematology and Oncology, Universitätsklinikum Charité, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany. E-mail: sezer@charite.de