John D. Shaughnessy

Interphase FISH of Chromosome 1 and 13 in Newly Diagnosed Myeloma and the Disease Prognosis

Due to the heterogeneity of the myeloma genomes, it is unlikely to remedy the disease with a standard therapeutic protocol. In principle, all therapies are considered palliative. To achieve the best clinical outcomes, the therapeutic protocols were implemented with high-dose chemotherapies followed by autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation as the standard treatments for newly diagnosed myeloma cases. In parallel with the clinical protocols, bone marrow specimens were collected at the diagnosis stage of more than 500 patients. The assessment of the prognostic and predictive impact of cytogenetic anomalies in the tumor cells was carried out using fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) procedure to probe chromosome 1q21, 1p13, 13q14, and 13q34 regions. The cytogenetic aberrations in myeloma cells are corroborated with clinical observation for the prognostic significance. The current study revealed that the amplification of 1q21 and deletion of 1p13 chromosome regions are the significant risk factors when considering overall survival and eventfree survival of the patients.