In order to investigate the expression of vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 (VCAM-1) in patients with multiple myeloma and its significance, the expression of VCAM-1 in 23 patients were detected by reverse transcription-PCR (RT-PCR) and then compared with that in normal control. The results showed that the expression of VCAM-1 in patients with newly diagnosed and relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma was much higher than that in normal control and in patients reached plateau stage (p < 0.05). There was no statistically significant difference between newly diagnosed and relapsed/refractory patients (p > 0.05). It is concluded that the expression of VCAM-1 in patients with multiple myeloma is abnormal, which may be an important factor for the pathogenesis of multiple myeloma.