Hope for myeloma patients as researchers make molecular map, like a Google map, but for cells and molecules of a tissue
Melbourne scientists have created the world’s first comprehensive molecular map of human bone marrow in a breakthrough that could redefine how myeloma is treated.
A groundbreaking “Google map” of bone marrow has challenged the scientific understanding of an incurable blood cancer, paving the way for new treatments.
Scientists have long believed that the cancerous plasma cells found in myeloma patients shaped their bone marrow in similar ways, meaning a universal treatment targeting the similarities could be developed.
But Melbourne scientists have turned that belief on its head after creating the world’s first comprehensive molecular map of human bone marrow, and discovering myeloma is more complex than thought.
WEHI researcher and co-first author Dr Raymond Yip said a molecular map was like a Google map, but for “cells and molecules of a tissue”.
“We found that each group of cancerous plasma cells creates its own distinct space,” he said.
Clinician and co-first author Dr Jeremy Er said it was as if the myeloma cells created their own postcodes or “distinct neighbourhoods within the bone marrow” of one patient.
“Each different postcode has different cells and gene activity that may support its growth and may make it resistant to certain therapies,” he said.
“Some of the samples [in the study] are 1cm to 1.5cm and even within microns of each other, we see different types of neighbourhoods of these myeloma cells,” he said.
The study, published in Blood, analysed bone marrow samples from healthy individuals, patients with early signs of disease and those who were recently diagnosed with multiple myeloma, the later stage of the disease.
Dr Yip said their research, a WEHI collaboration with the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre and Royal Melbourne Hospital, “challenged current thinking on myeloma”.
“This is what we call a paradigm-shifting concept where we are addressing the fundamental question on how myeloma develops in the bone marrow,” he said.
“Our findings … could redefine how we understand and treat the disease.”
He said their highly detailed map allowed them to see the cancer cell’s “microenvironment”.
“We can see how cancer cells are interacting with, for example, blood vessels or other immune cells,” he said.
“Are they trying to create molecules to suppress an immune attack to protect themselves?”
Dr Er said the findings may explain why some patients did not respond to treatment.
“We hope this work is the first step in developing more tailored strategies and new ways to detect, monitor and treat myeloma,” he said.
“It, in some sense, changes the way we think about the disease and how we may treat it.”
Dr Yip said the technology could also assist research into other blood cancers and diseases, and he hoped it could one day help clinicians tailor myeloma treatment to suit a “patient’s unique characteristics”.
Originally published as Hope for myeloma patients as researchers make molecular map, like a Google map, but for cells and molecules of a tissue
