A next-generation blood test is able to diagnosis and monitor multiple myeloma (MM) and its precursor conditions by utilizing single-cell sequencing to profile circulating tumor cells (CTCs) in the blood.
The new method, known as SWIFT-seq, offers a noninvasive alternative to traditional bone marrow biopsies, according to a paper published in Nature Cancer by senior author Irene M. Ghobrial, MD, and her colleagues at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston.
Traditionally, bone marrow biopsies have been used to assess risk and monitor genetic changes in MM and its precursor conditions such as smoldering multiple myeloma (SMM). However, these biopsies are painful, infrequent, and the accompanying technique, fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH), often fails to provide clear results, leading to less effective risk assessment and influencing treatment decisions.
In addition to surpassing the accuracy of bone marrow tests like FISH, SWIFT-seq can evaluate tumor growth rates and identify important gene patterns that can predict patient outcomes, according to the authors.
“SWIFT-seq is a powerful option as it can measure the number of CTCs, characterize the genomic alterations of the tumor, estimate the tumor’s proliferative capacity and measure prognostically useful gene signatures in a single test and from a blood sample,” Dr. Ghobrial said in a press release from Dana-Farber.
The study involved 101 patients and healthy donors, demonstrating that SWIFT-seq successfully captured CTCs in 90% of patients with MM or precursor conditions. Notably, it identified CTCs in 95% of patients with SMM and 94% of patients with newly diagnosed MM, the groups most likely to benefit from improved risk stratification and genomic surveillance.
SWIFT-seq’s ability to enumerate CTCs based on the tumor’s molecular barcode, rather than relying on cell surface markers, sets it apart from existing methods like flow cytometry.
“A lot of work has gone into the identification of genomic and transcriptomic features that predict worse outcome in MM, but we are still lacking the tests to measure them in our patients,” Dr. Ghobrial said. “As a clinician, this is the type of next-generation test that I would want to order for my patients.”
