Multiple Myeloma With Amplification of Chr1q: Therapeutic Opportunity and Challenges

Romanos Sklavenitis-Pistofidis; Gad Getz; Irene Ghobrial; Maria Papaioannou

doi:10.3389/fonc.2022.961421

Multiple Myeloma With Amplification of Chr1q: Therapeutic Opportunity and Challenges

Front Oncol. 2022 Jul 14:12:961421. doi: 10.3389/fonc.2022.961421. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Romanos Sklavenitis-Pistofidis^{1

2

3

4}, Gad Getz^{1

3

5}, Irene Ghobrial^{1

2

3}, Maria Papaioannou^{4

6}

Affiliations

¹ Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States.
² Department of Medical Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA, United States.
³ Broad Institute of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Harvard, Cambridge, MA, United States.
⁴ Medical School, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece.
⁵ Department of Pathology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, United States.
⁶ Hematology Unit, 1st Internal Medicine Department, AHEPA University Hospital, Thessaloniki, Greece.

Abstract

Multiple myeloma (MM) is an incurable plasma cell malignancy with a heterogeneous genetic background. Each MM subtype may have its own therapeutic vulnerabilities, and tailored therapy could improve outcomes. However, the cumulative frequency of druggable targets across patients is very low, which has precluded the widespread adoption of precision therapy for patients with MM. Amplification of the long arm of chromosome 1 (Amp1q) is one of the most frequent genetic alterations observed in patients with MM, and its presence predicts inferior outcomes in the era of proteasome inhibitors and immunomodulatory agents. Therefore, establishing precision medicine for MM patients with Amp1q stands to benefit a large portion of patients who are otherwise at higher risk of relapse. In this article, we review the prevalence and clinical significance of Amp1q in patients with MM, its pathogenesis and therapeutic vulnerabilities, and discuss the opportunities and challenges for Amp1q-targeted therapy.

Keywords: amplification; chr1q; multiple myeloma; precision medicine; therapy.

Publication types

Review