MSCs in MM
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Functional Characterisation of Mesenchymal Stromal Cells in Multiple Myeloma
IRAS ID
324694
Contact name
Andrea Mohr
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Essex
Duration of Study in the UK
4 years, 0 months, 1 days
Research summary
Multiple myeloma is an incurable haematological malignancy, which is responsible for
over 3000 deaths every year in the United Kingdom alone. The disease is characterised by the clonal expansion of malignant plasma cells in the bone marrow. Despite major improvements in treatments in recent years, relapse of the disease remains almost inevitable. Mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) reside within the bone marrow and form part of the tumour microenvironment for malignant multiple myeloma (MM) cells. Numerous studies have shown that MSCs from MM patients possess abnormal characteristics, such as altered gene expression profiles. The precise role of MSCs in the progression and relapse of MM, however, is not clearly defined. Most of the studies that have been carried out on MSCs from MM patients so far have focused on their transcriptomic profile. As changes at the transcriptional level do not necessarily translate into changes at the protein and phenotypic level, this project will take a more functional approach to explore the role of MSCs in MM. For this, we will isolate MSCs from MM patients and study their responses to different drugs. Furthermore, we will investigate whether these drugs impact on the crosstalk between MSCs and tumour cells. A better understanding of how MSCs communicate with MM cells and how conventional therapies affect this communication will help to identify novel points for intervention and might therefore result in novel, more specific treatments. Moreover, the identification of patient specific stromal response signatures might allow a stratification of patients into “risk for progression groups” and thus lead to the development of a treatment protocol specifically for this patient cohort.REC name
Yorkshire & The Humber - Leeds East Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
24/YH/0127
Date of REC Opinion
25 Jun 2024
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion