Researchers from the Cima and the Clínica Universidad de Navarra have discovered the mechanisms that multiple myeloma uses to deceive patients' immune systems.

Multiple myeloma is a hematological cancer subject that affects the bone marrow. It is characterized by its resistance to treatment, leading to relapses in patients. The study suggests that the cells of this tumor are able to modulate the environment surrounding the tumor (its microenvironment) in the body, thus favoring the development of the tumor and facilitating its resistance to current therapies.

"One of the major components of the bone marrow microenvironment is stem cells, or mesenchymal progenitors, capable of giving rise to different marrow components. Using massive sequencing technologies, we have described for the first time how tumor cells from multiple myeloma patients contribute to blocking mesenchymal cell differentiation. In addition, they promote a permissive immune environment in the marrow," explains Dr. Borja Sáez, researcher of the Hemato-oncology Program of the Cima University of Navarra and co-author of work, at partnership with Dr. Daniel Alameda.

Involvement in conventional treatment

These results, confirmed in a joint study by Cima and Clínica Universidad de Navarra, suggest that mesenchymal cells in the marrow of patients with multiple myeloma could diminish the effects of conventional treatments and even immunotherapy.

The work has been carried out at the framework of the high school of research Sanitaria de Navarra (IdISNA), under the direction of Drs. Jesús San Miguel and Patricia Maiso, and has been funded, among other institutions, by the association Española Contra el Cáncer (AECC). Specifically, it is part of project publisher , research , an international project that seeks to improve the early detection and intervention of blood cancers, mainly monoclonal gammopathies, leukemia and lymphoma. 

• reference letter bibliography:
  Haematologica January 2020: haematol.2019.235135