Archives of Cancer Biology and Therapy

The use of molecular and genomic analysis of a cancer as a means to define a patient-specific treatment is interchangeably referred to as Precision Medicine, Personalized Medicine, or Genomically-directed medicine (herein, collectively PMED). In the foregoing commentary we have focused on PMED approaches related to treatment selection and do not prioritize the development of novel molecular assays used to guide patient diagnostics or prognostication. 

Multiple Myeloma (MM) is a malignancy of the antibodyproducing plasma cells found in the bone marrow. In recent years, we have witnessed significant improvements made in both the diagnostic criteria and novel therapies for MM, resulting in the prolonged survival of MM patients. Approved novel therapies include proteasome inhibitors (bortezomib and carfilzomib), immunomodulatory drugs (thalidomide, lenalidomide & pomalidomide), monoclonal antibodies (daratumumab, elotuzumab & isatuximab) and B-cell maturation antigens (Belantamab). Recently, CAR T cell therapy has been FDA approved for MM treatment. Despite these advancements, MM remains an incurable cancer with suboptimal overall survival, with many patients developing relapsed/refractory MM. Plasma cell leukemia (PCL) is a rare and aggressive variant of MM. PCL is classified as either primary PCL, which develops de novo, or secondary PCL, that can arise in the late and advanced stages of MM.