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Shaji K. Kumar, MD
Prashant Kapoor, MD, FACP
Shaji K. Kumar, MD
Prashant Kapoor, MD, FACP
Posted: Monday, November 20, 2023
The Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation has given the Mount Sinai Health System a $7 million grant to help facilitate a multiyear research project. The goal of the project, which will take place over 3 years, is to fast-track novel translational concepts to improve outcomes for people with high-risk myeloma.
The project will use CRISPR genomics, spatial imaging, chimeric antigen receptor T-cell technology, and novel functional genomics technology to analyze patient samples from across the country at the genomic and immune levels. This analysis is intended to help identify new therapeutic target modalities that can then be harnessed for more effective treatments for high-risk multiple myeloma.
“We lack a detailed understanding of the genomic and immunologic differences between high-risk and standard-risk patients, and current trials with novel T-cell therapeutics in relapsed myeloma continue to show shorter survival in high-risk patients. All of this highlights the urgent need for greater research efforts and new treatments for these vulnerable patients,” said the principal investigator, Samir Parekh, MD, of the Tisch Cancer Center at Mount Sinai, New York.
Dr. Parekh jointly leads the project with Brian Brown, PhD, of Mount Sinai’s Icahn Genomics Institute, who added: “Through this endeavor, we expect to identify the genes responsible for high-risk myeloma growth and resistance to immunotherapy, as well as to identify novel targets for cellular therapy and bispecific antibodies.”
This grant was one of three given as a part of the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation’s Myeloma Accelerator Challenge Program. Three teams will be working on multicenter translational projects designed to advance compelling hypotheses looking for a cure for myeloma.
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