He Cancer Center University Clinic of Navarre (CCUN) has added a mass spectrometer to its current diagnostic equipment. This tool allows us to systematically detect – and with greater precision than other conventional methods – whether patients with multiple myelomaafter appropriate treatment, have minimal residual disease, i.e. a minimal amount of myeloma proteinwhich would go unnoticed if measured with traditional methods and could indicate a higher risk of relapse.
He Dr. Alvaro GonzalezDirector of the Clinical Biochemistry Service of the Clínica Universidad de Navarra, emphasizes that with the mass spectrometer “a greater sensitivity in diagnosis which more specifically allows for the detection of possible recurrences, because it allows the clinician to act earlier and in a more appropriate manner for each patient. Consequently, attention improves very significantly thanks to this technique.
He multiple myeloma It is the second most common type of hematological cancer in the world. According to data from the Cancer Observatory of the Spanish Association against CancerIn Spain, more than 3,500 cases were diagnosed in 2023.
This disease, the treatment of which has progressed considerably in recent years, is a type of monoclonal gammopathya condition characterized by abnormal proliferation of tumor plasma cells in the bone marrow, causing an increase in a monoclonal protein in the blood and urine.
The mass spectrometer is able to detect with greater precision the possible existence of these proteins, which would mean the presence of cancer cells in the body.
THE Dr. Paula Rodriguez Oterospecialist in the field of hematological cancer at CCUN, explains that “thanks to the therapeutic advances of recent years, many patients achieve concentrations of monoclonal proteins below the limits detectable with conventional techniques. On the other hand, with this technology we obtain detect residual myeloma proteinsavoiding, in many cases, the need for invasive bone marrow biopsy techniques.
New technology at the service of the patient
Recent years have brought significant progress in the treatment of myeloma, which in many cases have helped to extend life expectancy. According to the Dr. Jesus San MiguelSenior consultant of the CCUN and recognized international expert in multiple myeloma, “we can now estimate that approximately 20 to 30% of patients with this disease can be functionally cured, that is to say with a progression-free survival of more than 10 years.
We expect these percentages to increase with advanced immunotherapy-based procedures, including antibodies. Bispecific cells and CAR-T“. Specialists consider progression-free survival to be the period during which the patient lives in response or with the disease controlled until the time when it progresses again.
THE United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA)Furthermore, it has recently been approved that the detection of minimal residual disease in bone marrow by flow cytometry or high-sensitivity sequencing techniques may become a marker for early approval of new drugsconsidering minimal rates of negative residual disease as the primary objective of new clinical trials.
The move could mean a several-year reduction in the time it takes to demonstrate that a new treatment regimen is superior to the standard used previously. The FDA’s approval was based on the report prepared by the International i2TEAMM consortium of which CCUN is a member.
