Skip to main content

Myeloma Therapy

Genes Highlight Who'll Benefit From Multiple Myeloma Therapy


Genetic tests can show which patients with the blood cancer multiple myeloma should respond to targeted therapy, a new study finds.

A special six-gene pattern can help predict who are more likely to respond well to Venclexta (venetoclax), a pill that promotes natural cell death among cancer cells, researchers said.

“By knowing which patients might benefit the most, we can customize treatments to improve their chances of success,” said researcher Alessandro Lagana, an assistant professor of oncological sciences at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, in New York City.

Multiple myeloma is a cancer of blood plasma cells, according to the American Cancer Society. About 35,780 new cases of multiple myeloma are expected to be diagnosed in 2024, and it will kill about 12,540 U.S. adults.

Venclexta keeps cancer cells from dodging apoptosis, the body process that causes old or damaged cells to self-destruct.

Multiple myeloma cells carry a protein called BCL-2 that keeps the cell from triggering apoptosis. Venclexta inhibits BCL-2, restoring natural cell death for these cancer cells.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Venclexta in 2018, but up to now it’s been unclear which patients would most benefit from the drug.

For this study, researchers analyzed the genetics of 58 patients treated with Venclexta between 2017 and 2021.

They discovered a specific genetic pattern “with higher scores being consistently associated with less favorable responses,” the research team wrote.

“Doctors could use genetic testing to choose the best candidates for venetoclax treatment,” Lagana said in a Icahn news release.

Researchers also found that Venclexta worked best when paired with a CKD7 inhibitor, another type of drug that promotes natural cell death.

“Combining venetoclax with CDK7 inhibitors might help more patients respond positively,especially those who might not respond well to venetoclax alone,” Lagana said. “For patients, this research means someday they could receive more personalized treatment plans based on their genetic information, leading to better outcomes.”

Researchers next plan to confirm their findings in a larger group of patients, and to test the combined use of Venclexta and CDK7 inhibitors in clinical trials.

The new study was published in December issue of the journal Blood Neoplasia.

Multiple myeloma, myeloma therapy, plasma cell neoplasm, monoclonal antibodies, proteasome inhibitors, immunomodulatory drugs, CAR-T cell therapy, bispecific antibodies, autologous stem cell transplant, minimal residual disease, amyloidosis, lenalidomide, bortezomib, daratumumab, pomalidomide, selinexor, elotuzumab, ixazomib, Venetoclax, dexamethasone, alkylating agents, cytokine release syndrome, relapse, refractory myeloma, personalized medicine.

#MultipleMyeloma, #MyelomaTherapy, #CancerTreatment, #PlasmaCellNeoplasm, #MonoclonalAntibodies, #ProteasomeInhibitors, #Immunotherapy, #CAR_T, #StemCellTransplant, #MinimalResidualDisease, #Amyloidosis, #Lenalidomide, #Bortezomib, #Daratumumab, #Pomalidomide, #Selinexor, #Elotuzumab, #Ixazomib, #Venetoclax, #Dexamethasone, #OncologyResearch, #RelapseMyeloma, #RefractoryMyeloma, #PrecisionMedicine, #CancerAwareness.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Genetic factors with clinical trial stoppage

Genetic factors associated with reasons for clinical trial stoppage Many drug discovery projects are started but few progress fully through clinical trials to approval. Previous work has shown that human genetics support for the therapeutic hypothesis increases the chance of trial progression. Here, we applied natural language processing to classify the free-text reasons for 28,561 clinical trials that stopped before their endpoints were met. We then evaluated these classes in light of the underlying evidence for the therapeutic hypothesis and target properties. We found that trials are more likely to stop because of a lack of efficacy in the absence of strong genetic evidence from human populations or genetically modified animal models. Furthermore, certain trials are more likely to stop for safety reasons if the drug target gene is highly constrained in human populations and if the gene is broadly expressed across tissues. These results support the growing use of human genetics to ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Post-Stroke Cardiovascular risks

Study finds genetic factors key to post-stroke cardiovascular risks In a recent study published in the journal Stroke , researchers identify genetic and molecular risk factors for subsequent cardiovascular outcomes after incident stroke in an effort to identify potential therapeutic targets to improve patient prognoses. Identifying the causes of stroke Stroke is a major global health issue that causes significant disability and mortality, particularly arterial ischemic stroke (AIS). AIS, which is a type of stroke caused by blocked blood flow to the brain, is responsible for up to 85% of stroke cases. AIS arises due to cerebral blood vessel blockage, with modifiable risk factors including hypertension, diabetes, dyslipidemia, atrial fibrillation, obesity, and lifestyle behaviors. Although genome-wide association studies (GWAS) often focus on incident strokes, studying subsequent events can provide new insights into stroke progression. Further research is crucial to identify genetic and...
Post a Comment
Read more

Type of Inherited Blindness in Dogs

Genetic test could eradicate a type of inherited blindness in dogs A mountain rescue dog whose duties ended after her eyesight failed has helped scientists create a test that could eradicate the genetic eye condition in her breed for good. Shola the English shepherd has an inherited eye disease called progressive retinal atrophy (PRA) that causes the light-sensitive cells at the back of the eye to deteriorate, eventually leading to blindness. PRA affects more than 100 dog breeds, can be caused by a number of different genetic variants and has no treatment. For some types, symptoms do not appear until the dog is several years old , by which point they may have passed their genes on to puppies. Katherine Stanbury, the first author of the research from the University of Cambridge, said Shola was four years old when she began struggling with her vision in dim light. “She was sent to a veterinary ophthalmologist and they confirmed that she had PRA,” said Stanbury. “And then it turned out h...
Post a Comment
Read more