showing multiple myeloma
Researchers have created a 3-dimensional model that can be used to screen drugs designed to treat multiple myeloma (MM).
The team developed 3D tissue-engineered bone marrow (3DTEBM) cultures that could, ideally, help physicians determine which drug or combination therapy might be most effective for a particular MM patient.
The cultures also provide guidance regarding dosage.
The researchers described this work in Biomaterials.
“Even before the patient completes all of the MRIs, CT scans, and other imaging procedures following diagnosis, we can have a recommendation for which drug and dosage to prescribe,” said study author Kareem Azab, PhD, of Washington University School of Medicine in St Louis, Missouri. “The test results come in 3 to 4 days.”
Dr Azab and his colleagues developed their 3DTEBM cultures using bone marrow samples from MM patients. The team took small samples of a patient’s cells and remodeled them in the lab.
This tumor microenvironment includes the cancer cells and neighboring blood vessels, immune cells, and other components whose interaction can help or inhibit the tumor cells’ growth. Drugs are tested on the remodeled patient cells to determine which treatment is likely to be most effective.
Dr Azab’s method gauges the sensitivity of a patient’s cells to different drugs at any time in the course of the disease.
Therefore, as a patient’s disease becomes more resistant to particular drugs, continued drug screening could suggest when to change therapies. This could save valuable time, Dr Azab said.
“Now, we have a drug test that closely replicates what’s going on with a patient at any given moment,” he noted. “We think this method has a better chance of working than existing options.”
The 3DTEBM cultures are currently being tested in a clinical trial of MM patients.
To further the technology, Dr Azab and his colleagues have launched a company, Cellatrix, in coordination with Washington University’s Office of Technology Management and BioGenerator, a nonprofit organization that helps launch bioscience companies.
Cellatrix is scheduled to begin testing potential therapies on behalf of pharmaceutical companies soon. Dr Azab’s team is also studying how well the screening method works for patients with leukemia or lymphoma.
