Prediction model for SMM or worse may be used to defer bone marrow sampling in persons with MGUS

Using a trial of persons with monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS), researchers developed a prediction model that accurately predicts the presence of 10 percent or more bone marrow plasma cells (BMPC) and therefore a diagnosis of smoldering multiple myeloma (SMM) or multiple myeloma (MM) by bone marrow criteria in persons presumed to have MGUS.

Immune system changes occur early in development of multiple myeloma, study finds

Long before multiple myeloma becomes a malignant disease, the collection of immune system cells and signal carriers amid the tumor cells undergoes dramatic shifts, with alterations in both the number and type of immune cells, researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, and Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) report in a new study.