Immune biomarkers of response to immunotherapy in patients with high-risk smoldering myeloma
Open accessAbstract
Patients with smoldering multiple myeloma (SMM) are observed until progression, but early treatment may improve outcomes. We conducted a phase II trial of elotuzumab, lenalidomide, and dexamethasone (EloLenDex) in patients with high-risk SMM and performed single-cell RNA and T cell receptor (TCR) sequencing on 149 bone marrow (BM) and peripheral blood (PB) samples from patients and healthy donors (HDs). We find that early treatment with EloLenDex is safe and effective and provide a comprehensive characterization of alterations in immune cell composition and TCR repertoire diversity in patients. We show that the similarity of a patient's immune cell composition to that of HDs may have prognostic relevance at diagnosis and after treatment and that the abundance of granzyme K (GZMK)+ CD8+ effector memory T (TEM) cells may be associated with treatment response. Last, we uncover similarities between immune alterations observed in the BM and PB, suggesting that PB-based immune profiling may have diagnostic and prognostic utility.
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All randomized studies (excluding active MM) show a clear advantage in progression-free survival, delaying MM progression, and preventing symptoms/organ damage; a recent study shows an overall survival advantage of early treatment.
“Excluding patients with an active MM according to the most recent guidelines,3 all randomized studies have shown a clear advantage in progression-free survival, in delaying MM progression, in preventing symptoms/organ damage,107-109 and a recent study has also demonstrated the overall survival (OS) advantage of early treatment,111”
From Evolution of Multiple Myeloma from a Genomic Perspective (2026) · cites this paper as [108]
The Introduction (page unavailable) reports that two phase III trials prolonged progression-free survival in high-risk smoldering myeloma and that one also prolonged overall survival. It does not establish the claim about all randomized studies or explicitly report prevention of symptoms or organ damage. The paper’s own phase II trial had no observation arm, so its Results and Discussion cannot demonstrate a comparative survival advantage. (LLM, conf=0.85)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredSeveral trials have reported the advantages and risks of early intervention in high-risk SMM.
“Several trials have reported the advantages and risks of early intervention in high risk SMM.105-112”
From Evolution of Multiple Myeloma from a Genomic Perspective (2026) · cites this paper as [108]
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Discovery and saturation analysis of cancer genes across 21 tumour types
Lawrence, M. S., Stojanov, P., Mermel, C. H., Robinson, J. T., Garraway, L. A., Golub, T. R., Meyerson, M., Gabriel, S. B., Lander, E. S., & Getz, G. (2014) · Nature · doi:10.1038/nature12912 · Cited by 3,096 · see citing works
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SoupX removes ambient RNA contamination from droplet-based single-cell RNA sequencing data
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Lenalidomide plus Dexamethasone for High-Risk Smoldering Multiple Myeloma
Mateos, M.-V., Hernández, M.-T., Giraldo, P., de la Rubia, J., de Arriba, F., Corral, L. L., Rosiñol, L., Paiva, B., Palomera, L., Bargay, J., et al. (2013) · New England Journal of Medicine · doi:10.1056/nejmoa1300439 · Cited by 1,171 · see citing works
Self-citationTwo subsets of stem-like CD8+ memory T cell progenitors with distinct fate commitments in humans
Galletti, G., De Simone, G., Mazza, E. M. C., Puccio, S., Mezzanotte, C., Bi, T. M., Davydov, A. N., Metsger, M., Scamardella, E., Alvisi, G., et al. (2020) · Nature Immunology · doi:10.1038/s41590-020-0791-5 · Cited by 299 · see citing works
Bustoros, M., Sklavenitis-Pistofidis, R., Park, J., Redd, R., Zhitomirsky, B., Dunford, A. J., Salem, K., Tai, Y.-T., Anand, S., Mouhieddine, T. H., et al. (2020) · Journal of Clinical Oncology · doi:10.1200/jco.20.00437 · Cited by 187 · see citing works
Self-citationMYC dysregulation in the progression of multiple myeloma
MMRF CoMMpass Network, Misund, K., Keane, N., Stein, C. K., Asmann, Y. W., Day, G., Welsh, S., Van Wier, S. A., Riggs, D. L., Ahmann, G., et al. (2020) · Leukemia · doi:10.1038/s41375-019-0543-4 · Cited by 161 · see citing works
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Nadeem, O., Aranha, M. P., Redd, R., Timonian, M., Magidson, S., Lightbody, E. D., Alberge, J.-B., Bertamini, L., Dutta, A. K., El-Khoury, H., et al. (2025) · Nature Communications · doi:10.1038/s41467-024-55308-5 · Cited by 20 · see citing works
Self-citationEvolution of Multiple Myeloma from a Genomic Perspective
Maura, F., Samur, M., & Munshi, N. (2026) · Blood · doi:10.1182/blood.2024026313 · Cited by 8 · see citing works
- Authors
- Sklavenitis-Pistofidis, R., Aranha, M. P., Redd, R. A., Baginska, J., Haradhvala, N. J., Hallisey, M., Dutta, A. K., Savell, A., Varmeh, S., Heilpern-Mallory, D., Ujwary, S., Zavidij, O., Aguet, F., Su, N. K., Lightbody, E. D., Bustoros, M., Tahri, S., Mouhieddine, T. H., Wu, T., Flechon, L., Anand, S., Rosenblatt, J. M., Zonder, J., Vredenburgh, J. J., Boruchov, A., Bhutani, M., Usmani, S. Z., Matous, J., Yee, A. J., Jakubowiak, A., Laubach, J., Manier, S., Nadeem, O., Richardson, P., Badros, A. Z., Mateos, M.-V., Trippa, L., Getz, G., & Ghobrial, I. M.
- Affiliations
- Broad Institute (US)
- Harvard University (US)
- Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (US)
- Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (US)
- The Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute (US)
- Saint Francis Hospital & Medical Center (US)
- Levine Cancer Institute (US)
- Colorado Blood Cancer Institute (US)
- Massachusetts General Hospital (US)
- University of Chicago (US)
- Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR)
- University of Maryland Marlene and Stewart Greenebaum Comprehensive Cancer Center (US)
- Corresponding author
- Getz, Gad
- Ghobrial, Irene M.
- ORCID
- Aranha, Michelle P.
- Redd, Robert A.
- Haradhvala, Nicholas J.
- Dutta, Ankit K.
- Varmeh, Shohreh
- Heilpern-Mallory, Daniel
- Su, Nang K.
- Lightbody, Elizabeth D.
- Bustoros, Mark
- Tahri, Sabrin
- Mouhieddine, Tarek H.
- Wu, Ting
- Anand, Shankara
- Rosenblatt, Jacalyn M.
- Zonder, Jeffrey
- Vredenburgh, James J.
- Bhutani, Manisha
- Usmani, Saad Z.
- Yee, Andrew J.
- Jakubowiak, Andrzej
- Laubach, Jacob
- Manier, Salomon
- Nadeem, Omar
- Richardson, Paul
- Badros, Ashraf Z.
- Trippa, Lorenzo
- Getz, Gad
- Ghobrial, Irene M.
- Venue
- Cancer Cell
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2022-11
- Volume
- 40
- Issue
- 11
- Pages
- 1358-1373.e8
- ISSN
- 1535-6108 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC10019228
- OpenAlex
- W4308952528
- Cited by
- 70
- References
- 7
- Citations by year
- 2026: 21 · 2025: 18 · 2024: 21 · 2023: 8 · 2022: 2
- FWCI
- 8.92
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Licence
- www.elsevier.com/tdm/userlicense/1.0/ (tdm)
- www.elsevier.com/legal/tdmrep-license (tdm)
- www.elsevier.com/open-access/userlicense/1.0/ (vor, 378 d)
- doi.org/10.15223/policy-017 (stm-asf)
- doi.org/10.15223/policy-037 (stm-asf)
- doi.org/10.15223/policy-012 (stm-asf)
- doi.org/10.15223/policy-029 (stm-asf)
- doi.org/10.15223/policy-004 (stm-asf)
- Locations
- Cancer Cell (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation
- International Myeloma Society
- International Waldenstrom's Macroglobulinemia Foundation
- Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (2316-17)
- Dr. Miriam and Sheldon G. Adelson Medical Research Foundation
- Minneapolis Medical Research Foundation
- National Institutes of Health (R01 CA205954)
- Stand Up To Cancer (SU2C-AACR-CT05-17)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Hematology › Multiple Myeloma Research and Treatments
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Oncology › Cancer Immunotherapy and Biomarkers
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Pathology and Forensic Medicine › Lymphoma Diagnosis and Treatment
- Keywords
- smoldering multiple myeloma, high-risk smoldering myeloma, immunotherapy response biomarkers, elotuzumab, lenalidomide, dexamethasone, T cell receptor repertoire, immune cell composition, granzyme K, CD8+ effector memory T cells, prognostic factors, single-cell RNA sequencing
- MeSH terms
- Smoldering Multiple Myeloma, Lenalidomide, Humans, Immunologic Factors, Immunotherapy, Multiple Myeloma, Biomarkers, Clinical Trials, Phase II as Topic, Disease Progression
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