Longitudinal Profiling of Tumor and Immune Compartments Uncovers Patterns of Dysregulation and Associations with Response in Multiple Myeloma.
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| Abstract | UNLABELLED: Multiple myeloma is a malignancy of clonally expanded plasma cells shaped by complex interactions with the immune microenvironment (IME). To investigate immune correlates of treatment response and disease progression, we conducted multi-omics profiling including CD138neg single-cell RNA sequencing of 243 bone marrow samples from 102 patients (631,226 cells) and CD138pos bulk RNA and whole-genome sequencing from 209 samples. In longitudinal analyses, interferon-γ signaling associated with markers of impaired T-cell memory after autologous stem cell transplant, whereas naïve B-cell abundance and immunoglobulin diversity correlated with improved progression-free survival (HR = 0.48; P = 2.3e-4). At disease progression, multiple myeloma cells upregulated cancer-testis antigens (CTAg) and immune effector genes, with concurrent B-cell depletion, enrichment of myeloid-derived suppressor cell expression, and phenotypic T-cell exhaustion. These findings highlight dynamic immune-tumor interactions, identifying naïve B-cell reconstitution as a biomarker of durable response and CTAgs as potential targets for high-risk disease at progression.SIGNIFICANCE: Longitudinal profiling of multiple myeloma and the IME revealed dynamic immune-tumor interactions across the disease course. Altered expression in CD8+ T cells limited memory phenotype after transplant, whereas naïve B-cell recovery associated with sustained treatment response. At progression, CTAg expression associated with immunosuppression, revealing novel mechanisms of immune dysregulation. |
| Year of Publication | 2026
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| Journal | Blood cancer discovery
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| Volume | 7
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| Issue | 2
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| Pages | 266-286
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| Date Published | 03/2026
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| ISSN | 2643-3249
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| DOI | 10.1158/2643-3230.BCD-25-0205
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| PubMed ID | 41364805
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