Myeloma Researcher On Team Analyzing Disease’s Genetic Fingerprints
| style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">Researchers at the Myeloma Institute for Research and Therapy (MIRT) are part of a team that has identified that multiple myeloma, a cancer of the blood, could actually be several different diseases at the molecular level with a potential for genetically targeted treatments that could extend to other forms of cancer.
The research is published in the April 2006 issue of journal Cancer Cell. The article, “High-resolution genomic profiles define distinct clinico-pathogenetic subgroups of multiple myeloma patients,” is now available online at http://www.cancercell.org/.
MIRT researcher John D. Shaughnessy Jr., Ph.D., was one of three lead authors of the study, along with Ron A. DePinho, M.D., of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute/Harvard Medical School, and Cameron Brennan, M.D., of Memorial Sloane-Kettering Cancer Center. Shaughnessy is director of the Lambert Laboratory of Myeloma Genetics in the Myeloma Institute, which is part of the Arkansas Cancer Research Center at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS), and a professor in the UAMS College of Medicine.
The new research, based on analysis of recurrent DNA changes in myeloma cells, is a significant step in understanding the genetic basis of myeloma development and progression, Shaughnessy said. The study suggests that myeloma consists of at least four different genetic subtypes of disease, he said.
“This represents a watershed in myeloma research since multiple myeloma’s genetic complexity had previously kept us from determining if it was actually more than one disease,” Shaughnessy said. “Now we can begin to better determine the severity of the disease in myeloma patients based on the correlations between the genetics and the variability in response and outcome to current therapies.”
Shaughnessy added, “Ultimately, the goal is to understand the genetic basis for disease initiation and progression and to develop targeted treatments based on these insights.”
“Development of so-called targeted therapies, aimed at specific genetic mutations and biochemical pathways affected within cancer cells is being utilized now in some cancers like chronic myelogenous leukemia and is a hope for all cancers,” he said.
Several of the genes identified in the study also are associated with unrelated cancers, including pancreatic, lung, breast and ovarian cancer.