Fighting Blood Cancer: Innovative Approaches to Effective Therapy

 A uncommon kind of blood cancer called multiple myeloma develops when aberrant plasma cells grow too much. By producing essential antibodies in the lymph nodes and bone marrow, plasma cells, a specific kind of white blood cell, perform an important function in the immune system's function.

Multiple myeloma is still incurable despite a rising number of approved medications and treatments, such as immunotherapy. After diagnosis, human beings have a meagre five years to live on average.

The cancer's ability to come back even after treatment represents one of the major obstacles. The reason for this is that as the cancer is treated, the cancer cells become more and more resistant to the treatments working, and finally, after numerous rounds of treatment, there are hardly any effective options.

Researchers from ETH Zurich have modified their screening tool to explore for solutions to this issue, bringing fresh hope for better clinical outcomes.

Under-the-microscope biopsies:

Professor Berend Snijder established a high-throughput screening methodology called pharmacoscopy, which the researchers are applying to assess the effects of different therapies on the cancer cells of the patient.

Several hundred separate care combinations can be tried sequentially outside the body using this cutting-edge technique. They can assess which treatment offers the most possibility to each patient by examining how it reacts of the cells to each one.

In order to achieve this, the cells from the biopsies are put into special plates with 384 tiny wells, each of which has a unique combination of potential therapeutic components. The cells are stained with various antibodies after 24 hours, and the results are assessed using images generated through automated microscopy. The cell types are then recognised and categorised using a deep-learning system. The process is largely automated, making it possible to analyse the data swiftly and correctly.

138 biopsies were looked at one by one:

138 blood vessel biopsies from 89 myeloma people who had various stages of multiple myeloma, including freshly diagnosed and untreated individuals as well as those who had many treatment rounds, were carefully examined by the researchers using pharmacoscopy.

The objective was to monitor how cancer cells behaved in each biopsy in response to different approved medicines and treatment combinations. The most appropriate course of treatment for each patient might be chosen by the researchers based on the appearance of the cells.

The platform had to be customised for this myeloma research even though the Snijder lab had previously used pharmacoscopy in comparable studies on various kinds of blood cancer, such as lymphomas and leukaemias.

The revolutionary research undertaken by scientists at ETH and the University Hospital of Zurich raises hopes for more potent multiple myeloma treatments. The researchers were able to find new, better therapy alternatives for each patient by employing pharmacoscopy to test hundreds of therapies.

The clinic can use this novel personalised medicine strategy, which will help specialists in quickly establishing the best course of action for their patients. But first, Snijder explains, "we will need to further validate the method in clinical trials."

The Snijder lab believes to further enhance the platform so that solid tumours can utilise it. Solid tumours must first be partially dissociated, unlike blood malignancies, before being evaluated in the 384-well panel size. They are currently altering the screening system to include, among other things, tumours of the brain.