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SNPs and PROs in myeloma: the most ambitious crossover of all time?

Bone Marrow Transplantation volume 57, pages 1475–1476 (2022)Cite this article

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In this issue of Bone Marrow Transplantation, Snowden et al. report the results of their exploratory study of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and patient-reported outcomes (PROs) among patients with relapsed multiple myeloma (MM) [1]. In brief, the authors analyzed whether a pre-selected panel of SNPs had any association with PRO assessments of pain and quality of life (QOL) among 191 patients assigned to either arm of the randomized Myeloma X trial. The authors found no impact on PROs from SNPs in genes associated with nociceptive pathways and opioid receptors. In contrast, two relatively unknown non-coding SNPs were found to predict improved scores on several independent domains of pain and QOL.

On its surface, the study by Snowden et al. competes with several superhero movies for the title of “most ambitious crossover of all time.” [2] Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) in MM are not new but have largely focused on predicting treatment resistance or risk of progression. A handful of studies have used GWAS techniques to link SNPs with specific medication-related toxicities in MM, in particular peripheral neuropathy from bortezomib and thalidomide [3,4,5,6]. Snowden et al. go a step further by exploring the impact of SNPs on pain and QOL, two multidimensional endpoints driven by a complex interplay between myeloma and its treatment. Their ambitious analysis thus spans across the furthest reaches of both genomic research and health outcomes research, and in this Commentary we address their results within the broader context of the Myeloma X trial and myeloma-related research.

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References

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Hematology/Oncology, Department of Medicine, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA

    Rahul Banerjee & Nina Shah

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RB and NS wrote the paper, reviewed the paper, and approved the final submitted draft.

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Correspondence to Rahul Banerjee.

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Competing interests

RB reports: Curio Science: Honoraria; Eradigm Consulting: Consulting; Guidepoint Global: Consulting; i3 Health, Honoraria; Pack Health: Research Funding; Sanofi Pasteur: Consulting; SparkCures: Consulting. NS reports: Bluebird Bio: Research Funding; GSK: Consultancy; Janssen: Research Funding; Indapta Therapeutics: Consultancy; BMS/Celgene: Research Funding; CareDx: Consultancy; CSL Behring: Consultancy; Kite: Consultancy; Nektar: Research Funding; Karyopharm: Consultancy; Amgen: Consultancy; Oncopeptides: Consultancy; Poseida: Research Funding; Precision Biosciences: Research Funding; Sanofi: Consultancy; Sutro Biopharma: Research Funding; Teneobio: Research Funding.

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Banerjee, R., Shah, N. SNPs and PROs in myeloma: the most ambitious crossover of all time?. Bone Marrow Transplant 57, 1475–1476 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41409-022-01732-4

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