Mieloma Multiple - Mieloma.com

Cita:

Researchers at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences say the identification of 17 genes that can help detect which patients have high-risk myeloma could lead the development of new medications to target those genes.

Myeloma is a plasma cell cancer that can lead to bone deterioration, anemia and kidney failure if the patient doesn't respond to cancer treatment. Patients diagnosed with high-risk myeloma - about 15 percent of the 19,000 Americans diagnosed nationwide - have a median survival of about two years.

"If we now know the genes that are dysfunctional in these patients who have this very horrible type of disease, we may be able to understand why it's happening," said John Shaughnessy, director of basic sciences of UAMS' Myeloma Institute for Research and Therapy.

The UAMS researchers studied the gene profile of more than 500 patients treated for multiple myeloma at UAMS. Of the about 25,000 genes in the body, the UAMS team found the expression of just 17 revealed which form of the disease the patients had. A gene is expressed when its DNA is transcribed into RNA, which is later transcribed into protein.

"The expression level of those 17 genes becomes an overpowering and overriding predictor of outcome in therapy," Shaughnessy said.

The 17-gene model provides a more accurate picture of whether a patient is predisposed to high-risk myeloma, researchers said.

"It would preclude some patients from going through a treatment that would not be very beneficial," said Dr. Rafael Fonseca, professor of medicine at the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale, Ariz.

But Donella Wilson, director of research promotion and communication for the American Cancer Society, said the gene identification doesn't guarantee the development of targeted therapies for those at risk.

"It's exciting because that's the first step: identifying the genes," she said. "But it doesn't mean that tomorrow we're going to have a drug that targets those genes that are going to impact the progression of disease."