Project description:Multiple myeloma (MM) patients undergo repetitive bone marrow (BM) aspirates for genetic characterization. Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) are detectable in peripheral blood of virtually all MM cases and are prognostic, but their applicability for non-invasive screening has been poorly investigated. Here, we used next-generation flow cytometry to isolate matched CTCs and BM tumor cells from 42 patients and compare their genetic profile. In 8 cases, tumor cells from extramedullary plasmacytomas were also sorted and whole-exome sequencing performed in the three spatially-distributed clones. Noteworthy, ≥84% mutations present in BM and extramedullary clones were detectable in CTCs. Concordance between BM tumor cells and CTCs was high for chromosome arm-level copy-number alterations (≥94%) though not for translocations (43%). All high-risk genetic abnormalities except one t(4;14) were detected in CTCs whenever present in BM tumor cells. Altogether, these results support CTCs for non-invasive risk-stratification of MM patients based on their numbers and genetic profile.
Project description:Comparison between perR and wild type Bacillus Set of arrays organized by shared biological context, such as organism, tumors types, processes, etc. Keywords: Logical Set
Project description:This gene expression set contains data from patients included in the HOVON131 clinical trial. Using this data the relation between circulating tumor cells and gene expression patterns was studied in newly diagnosed multiple myeloma patients. Circulating tumor cells are a known prognostic factor in multiple myeloma. However, the causes of high circulating tumor cells have been insufficiently characterised. This study aimed to identify factors involved in high circulating tumor cell count, using a model to correct for important contributing factors to this phenotype, which is closely associated with aggressive disease.
Project description:Direct analysis of HLA-presented antigens by mass spectrometry provides a comprehensive view on the antigenic landscape of different tissues/malignancies and enables the identification of novel, pathophysiologically relevant T-cell epitopes. Here, we present a systematic and comparative study of the HLA class I and II presented, nonmutant antigenome of multiple myeloma (MM). Quantification of HLA surface expression revealed elevated HLA molecule counts on malignant plasma cells compared with normal B cells, excluding relevant HLA downregulation in MM. Analyzing the presentation of established myeloma-associated T-cell antigens on the HLA ligandome level, we found a substantial proportion of antigens to be only infrequently presented on primary myelomas or to display suboptimal degrees of myeloma specificity. However, unsupervised analysis of our extensive HLA ligand data set delineated a panel of 58 highly specific myeloma-associated antigens (including multiple myeloma SET domain containing protein) which are characterized by frequent and exclusive presentation on myeloma samples. Functional characterization of these target antigens revealed peptide-specific, preexisting CD8+ T-cell responses exclusively in myeloma patients, which is indicative of pathophysiological relevance. Furthermore, in vitro priming experiments revealed that peptide-specific T-cell responses can be induced in response-naive myeloma patients. Together, our results serve to guide antigen selection for T-cell–based immunotherapy of MM.
Project description:The multiple myeloma (MM) data set (endpoints F, G, H, and I) was contributed by the Myeloma Institute for Research and Therapy at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS, Little Rock, AR, USA). Gene expression profiling of highly purified bone marrow plasma cells was performed in newly diagnosed patients with MM. The training set consisted of 340 cases enrolled on total therapy 2 (TT2) and the validation set comprised 214 patients enrolled in total therapy 3 (TT3). Plasma cells were enriched by anti-CD138 immunomagnetic bead selection of mononuclear cell fractions of bone marrow aspirates in a central laboratory. All samples applied to the microarray contained more than 85% plasma cells as determined by 2-color flow cytometry (CD38+ and CD45-/dim) performed after selection. Dichotomized overall survival (OS) and eventfree survival (EFS) were determined based on a two-year milestone cutoff. A gene expression model of high-risk multiple myeloma was developed and validated by the data provider and later on validated in three additional independent data sets.