How has our understanding of the initiation of MM changed over recent years?

The Multiple Myeloma Hub are pleased to present a series of expert interviews from the 61st American Society of Hematology (ASH) meeting in Orlando, US. In this video, Nikhil Munshi, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, US, answers the question: How has our understanding of the initiation of multiple myeloma changed over recent years?

Professor (Prof.) Munshi provides an overview of the advances made in the field of genomics in myeloma, such as in our knowledge of the chronological order of these changes. For example, it has been established that copy number changes are early events which are present in MGUS, smoldering multiple myeloma (MM) and MM. These are predominantly trisomies and translocations.

Additionally, Prof. Munshi discusses some of the abstracts presented during the ASH meeting, such as one using whole genome sequencing, and one on the concept of link RNA. Prof. Munshi concludes that our increased understanding of how myeloma develops may lead us to new therapeutic targets.