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A team of Adelaide researchers has uncovered a promising new way to identify patients with aggressive multiple myeloma before treatment even begins, in a discovery that could pave the way for more personalised care and improved outcomes.
The breakthrough, led by researchers from Adelaide University’s Centre for Cancer Biology and SA Pathology, has identified a protein known as Desmoglein-2 (DSG2) as a powerful predictor of patient outcomes. The findings have been published in the British Journal of Haematology.
Multiple myeloma is the second most common blood cancer in the world, with more than 188,000 new cases diagnosed each year. The disease affects plasma cells in the bone marrow and, while treatments have improved significantly over the past two decades, it remains incurable.
Researchers analysed clinical and genomic data from 678 people newly diagnosed with multiple myeloma and found those with the highest levels of DSG2 had significantly poorer survival rates than patients with lower levels of the protein.
Importantly, the protein remained a reliable predictor of disease progression even after researchers accounted for factors such as age, disease stage, treatment type and stem cell transplantation.
“While genomic testing has improved our ability to identify high-risk disease, some patients who appear to have standard-risk myeloma still experience rapid progression and poor survival,” shared Lead author Professor Claudine Bonder.
“Our findings show that high DSG2 levels can identify patients with a particularly aggressive type of multiple myeloma that may not be captured by existing risk-stratification approaches.”
Current risk assessments rely heavily on genomic testing, but the researchers say DSG2 testing could become an additional tool to help clinicians identify high-risk patients earlier and tailor treatment plans from the beginning.
Co-lead author Dr Barbara McClure said, “Rapidly identifying patients who are likely to have more aggressive forms of the disease is critical because it can influence treatment decisions from the very beginning,” Dr McClure said.
“DSG2 has the potential to become an additional tool that helps clinicians better predict how a patient’s disease will behave and tailor treatment accordingly.”
The research team believes the discovery could also open new avenues for future therapies.
Further studies are now planned to validate the findings and explore whether DSG2 itself could become a target for precision medicine treatments aimed at improving outcomes for people living with high-risk multiple myeloma.
If successful, the research could help clinicians better match treatments to individual patients, offering a more personalised approach to tackling one of the world’s most common blood cancers.
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