SAN FRANCISCO—Multiple myeloma (MM) is driven to spread by only a subset of the myeloma cells within a patient’s body, according to research presented at the 2014 ASH Annual Meeting.
Attacking those cells with targeted drugs may degrade MM’s ability to spread throughout the bone marrow, study investigators said.
The team had used a mouse model of MM to track which of 15 subclones of myeloma cells spread beyond their initial site in the animals’ hind legs.
By labeling the different subgroups with fluorescent dyes, the researchers determined that just one of the subclones was responsible for disease metastasis.
They then compared the pattern of gene abnormalities in the initial myeloma tissue and the metastatic tumors. And they found that 238 genes were significantly less active in the latter group, comprising a gene signature of metastatic myeloma.
“Out of all the genes that were differently expressed in the 2 groups, we found 11 that played a functional role in metastasis and therefore may be drivers of the disease,” said study investigator Irene Ghobrial, MD, of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston.
If future studies confirm that role, the genes may become targets for therapies that inhibit MM metastasis, she added.
Dr Ghobrial and her colleagues presented this research in a poster session at ASH (abstract 3370).
