The impact of bone marrow fibrosis and JAK2 expression on clinical outcomes in patients with newly diagnosed multiple myeloma treated with immunomodulatory agents and/or proteasome inhibitors.

We determined the impact of bone marrow fibrosis (BMF) on the clinical outcomes of newly diagnosed multiple myeloma (NDMM) patients in the current era of myeloma therapy. A total of 393 MM patients were included in the final analysis. The median followup was 83 months (range: 3.9 to 212 months). BMF was noted in 122 (48.2%) evaluable patients. Median progression free survival (PFS) in patients without BMF was 30.2 (95% CI: 24.7-38.0) months, and 21.1 (95% CI: 18.8-27.5) months in patients with BMF present (P = .024). Median overall survival (OS) was 61.2 (95% CI: 51.5-81.2) months in patients without BMF, and 45.1 (95% CI: 38.7-57.0) months in patients with BMF (P = .0048). A subset of 99 patients had their bone marrow biopsies stained for JAK1 and JAK2 by immunohistochemistry. Of these samples 67 (67.7%) patients had detectable JAK2 expression predominantly noted on bone marrow megakaryocytes. JAK2 expression correlated with myeloma disease stage (P = .0071). Our study represents the largest dataset to date examining the association of BMF with prognosis in the era of novel therapies and widespread use of hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT). Our data suggest that MM patients with BMF (particularly those with extensive BMF) have a poorer prognosis even when treated with immunomodulatory agents and proteasome inhibitors.

Treatment with Foscarnet after Allogeneic Hematopoietic Cell Transplant (Allo-HCT) Is Associated with Long-Term Loss of Renal Function.

Despite a well-established risk of chronic kidney disease (CKD) after allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplant (allo-HCT), the benefits of using nephrotoxic anti-infective agents to treat serious peritransplant infections often outweigh this risk. While there is no consensus on the optimal management of post-allo-HCT human herpes virus 6 (HHV6) reactivation, the nephrotoxic drug foscarnet is often used, although its long-term impact on renal function has not been established. We retrospectively reviewed 987 adult patients who underwent transplantation between 2002 and 2016, of whom 45.3% (n = 447) were exposed to foscarnet. The most frequent indications for foscarnet treatment were cytomegalovirus (n = 257, 57.5%) and HHV6 (n = 139, 31.1%). In the first 3 months post-transplant, patients exposed versus unexposed had similar rates of acute kidney injury and acute kidney failure (defined as 3 times baseline creatinine or <75% baseline estimated glomerular filtration rate [eGFR], 61.6% versus 58.7%, P = .42 and 28.1% versus 26.6%, P = .64, respectively). There was no difference in the eGFR at 3 months (P = .36), but patients treated with foscarnet had significantly lower median eGFRs (mL/min/1.73 m2) at 6 months (69.3, interquartile range [IQR] 51.4 to 92.8 versus 77.4, IQR 57.3 to 99.3; P = .009) and 12 months (67.8, IQR 52.7 to 85.0 versus 80.7, IQR 63.1 to 102.0; P < .001), respectively. There was also a significant difference in the decline in eGFR from baseline to 12 months (median 32.8, IQR 14.6 to 53.2 versus 21.9, IQR 6.4 to 37.4; P < .001), irrespective of the duration of foscarnet treatment. Multivariate analysis revealed that patients treated with foscarnet were more likely to experience a >30% decrease in eGFR from baseline to 12 months compared to those who were not (odds ratio, 2.30; 95% CI, 1.40 to 3.78; P = .001). We conclude that foscarnet use following allo-HCT had a profound impact on long-term renal function independent of other transplant-related factors.

Gamma Gap: A Point-of-Care Test That Correlates With Disease Burden and Treatment Response in Multiple Myeloma.

PURPOSE: We performed a retrospective chart review on 393 patients with multiple myeloma (MM) to determine the utility of the gamma gap (GG). METHODS: We calculated the difference between a patient's total serum protein and albumin as a point-of-care test for assessing disease status in MM. RESULTS: GG is highly correlated with the level of M-spike, and the change in GG correlates with myeloma treatment response. In addition, fitted linear models were established that allow for the calculation of M-protein level from the GG within hours from blood draw. CONCLUSION: Our study has important implications in the care of MM, particularly in countries/areas with limited resources.