ASH 2021 | Genomic features and outcomes of patients with myeloma with Hispanic or Latin American ancestry

Gareth Morgan, MD, PhD, FRCP, FRCPath, Perlmutter Cancer Center, NYU Langone Health, New York, NY, discusses a study of the genomic features and outcomes of patients with multiple myeloma and Hispanic or Latin American (HL) ancestry compared to those with Non-Hispanic white (NHW) ancestry. The study assessed 55 HL patients and 478 NHW patients from the CoMMpass trial data set (NCT01454297) with complete clinical and genomic information. When comparing clinical features, no differences were observed in age of onset, gender, presenting cytogenetics, or ISS score between the two groups. No differences in tumor mutational burden, presence of translocations involving IgH, or loss-of-heterozygosity percentage was observed. Similarly, copy number variations at the loci of known myeloma driver genes and biallelic status were also not significantly different between those with HL and NHW ancestry. Survival outcomes were also comparable. However, when admixture was run on those with self-declared HL ancestry, European, Hispanic, and African origins were all present. Prof. Morgan comments of the importance of further investigation to dissect out the genetic origin of the excess myeloma risk seen in African Americans. This interview took place at the 63rd ASH Annual Meeting and Exposition congress in Atlanta, GA.