Recently Diagnosed or Relapsed? Stop Looking For a Miracle Cure, and Use Evidence-Based Therapies To Enhance Your Treatment and Prolong Your Remission

Multiple Myeloma an incurable disease, but I have spent the last 25 years in remission using a blend of conventional oncology and evidence-based nutrition, supplementation, and lifestyle therapies from peer-reviewed studies that your oncologist probably hasn't told you about.

Click the orange button to the right to learn more about what you can start doing today.

BRCA 1/2 Genes Increase Myeloma Risk

Share Button

Newly diagnosed myeloma patients often wonder how they got a rare, incurable, blood cancer called multiple myeloma. One reason is that the BRCA 1/2 genes increase myeloma risk according to the research linked below.

Another reason is that a close relative who is a MM survivor also increases the risk of myeloma.

The most relavant finding of the study below, in my experience, is that “Increasingly we’re seeing that cancer predisposition matters when it comes to cancer treatment…” Meaning that your genetic predisposition to cancer may also point to your predisposition to a specific type of chemotherapy or treatment.

In my experience, progression-free survival (the MM patient’s first remission)  routinely vary from one to 5 or more years. The difference in remission duration can make a dramatic difference in the MM patients overall survival aka length of life.

My point is that the information conveyed by the study linked below can help the person whose family member has MM or the NDMM patient thinking about his/her therapy plan.

If you are a newly diagnosed MM patient and would like to learn more about your rare, incurable, blood cancer email me at David.PeopleBeatingCancer@gmail.com

thank you,

David Emerson

  • MM Survivor
  • MM Cancer Coach
  • Director PeopleBeatingCancer

Inherited changes in BRCA genes linked to increased risk of multiple myeloma

“A significant number of multiple myeloma patients may have an inherited but previously unrecognized risk of developing the disease—a type of blood cancer that affects plasma cells. That’s the finding of a genetic study that is the first to definitively associate multiple myeloma risk with inherited differences in the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes. The study also suggests that genetic testing for young or newly diagnosed patients could help clinicians identify the most promising treatment option for those patients…

BRCA genes are responsible for repairing DNA and preventing tumors from forming. Mutations in those genes can allow cells to grow out of control, raising the risk of

  • breast,
  • ovarian,
  • prostate and
  • pancreatic cancers,

among others.

The study found that compared with healthy subjects, multiple patients were more likely to have pathogenic germline variants (PGVs)—inherited changes that can increase cancer risk—in the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes…

While multiple myeloma affects mostly —95% are over 50—Dr. Onel and his colleagues discovered that patients whose BRCA genes contained PGVs, which dramatically increase cancer risk, were more likely to be diagnosed at a younger age and to have a personal or family history of cancer…

The study authors conclude that should be considered for young or newly diagnosed patients who have a personal or family cancer history, to guide treatment decisions and gauge family members’

“Increasingly we’re seeing that cancer predisposition matters when it comes to cancer treatment,” says Dr. Onel. “This expands the therapeutic options we have for these patients…”

Multiple Myeloma Risk and Outcomes are Associated with Pathogenic Germline Variants in DNA Repair Genes

“First-degree relatives of multiple myeloma (MM) patients are at increased risk for MM, but the contribution of pathogenic germline variants (PGVs) in hereditary cancer genes to MM risk and outcomes is not well characterized.

To address this, we analyzed germline exomes in two independent cohorts of 895 and 786 MM patients. PGVs were identified in 8.6% of the discovery cohort and 11.5% of the replication cohort, with a notable presence of high or moderate-penetrance PGVs (PGV-As) in DNA repair genes (3.6% and 4.1%, respectively).

PGVs in BRCA1 (OR=3.9, FDR<0.01) and BRCA2 (OR=7.0, FDR<0.001) were significantly enriched in MM patients compared to 134,187 healthy controls. Five of the eight BRCA2 PGV carriers exhibited tumor-specific copy number loss in BRCA2, suggesting somatic loss of heterozygosity.

PGV-As were associated with younger age at diagnosis, personal or familial cancer history, and longer progression-free survival after upfront high-dose melphalan and autologous stem cell transplant (p<0.01).

 

 

 

Leave a Comment: