TGen, collaborators launch Multiple Myeloma Genomic Initiative research program

05-01-2006

The Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen) in collaboration with the Multiple Myeloma Research Consortium (MMRC) and others, has announced the launch of the Multiple Myeloma Genomic Initiative, a multi-million dollar research program designed to accelerate progress against multiple myeloma by improving the understanding of the biology of the disease.

The Multiple Myeloma Genomic Initiative is the most comprehensive research collaboration of its kind that focuses on cancer genomics, opening a new front in the battle against multiple myeloma.

Multiple myeloma, an incurable cancer of the plasma cell, is the second most common hematologic (blood) cancer, representing 1% of all cancer diagnoses and 2% of all cancer deaths. Despite recent advances in treating myeloma, the 5-year survival rate for multiple myeloma is only 32%, one of the lowest of all cancers. Approximately 50,000 people in the United States are living with multiple myeloma and an estimated 16, 000 new cases are diagnosed each year.

The Multiple Myeloma Genomic Initiative's research and discovery programs hinge on the ability to study, analyze, and characterize a large number of untreated myeloma patient tissue samples in great detail. This kind of research has been made possible only recently with the development of the MMRC Tissue Bank, the only resource of its kind to house high-quality bone marrow aspirates and matching peripheral blood samples accrued under Good Laboratory Practice (GLP) standards

Today, with hundreds of patient tissue samples now accrued under GLP standards into the MMRC Tissue Bank, and ongoing accrual at sites nationwide, researchers have access to the critical mass of tissue necessary to start this important genomic initiative.

In addition to TGen and the MMRC, the Eli and Edythe L. Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard is also participating in the project.

Findings from the Multiple Myeloma Genomic Initiative will be made accessible to the academic and commercial world via pre-publications and key learnings will be directly communicated to the scientific community to aid researchers pursuing genome mapping in other cancers.

This article was prepared by Clinical Oncology Week editors from staff and other reports. Copyright 2006, Clinical Oncology Week via NewsRx.com.