Dr. James R. Berenson, MD Institute for Myeloma and Bone Cancer Research Interview Date: February 5, 2016 

Dr. James Berenson, MD shares his work on a new test being developed to track myeloma. This test measures the amount of a specific protein called BCMA which is regularly found on myeloma cells. Today, myeloma is measured by levels of M-protein (also called the M-spike) found in both the blood and urine as well as imaging tests to measure lesions and bone marrow biopsies to test for levels of plasma cells. The advantage of using the BCMA test is that BCMA protein levels turn over in your blood every day, allowing a measurement with a quick blood test to determine if you are responding to treatment or not. A test like this would prevent patients from staying on treatment that is not working well. Measuring the standard immunoglobulin levels (like IgG, IgA, etc.) to adjust treatment takes more time because these turn over slowly. Additionally, the standard free light chain tests show a lot of variability and are hard to interpret for patients with kidney disease. The BCMA test runs independently of kidney issues. For patients who have "lost" the M-protein and are considered non-secretors or no longer make the light chain, this test can still track their disease without the need for bone marrow biopsies. Today, doctors use a variety of methods to assess disease staging, but current staging methods are not very accurate to predict prognosis. In early testing, Dr. Berenson has found that having normal BCMA levels shows good prognosis while having very high or extremely low BCMA levels show poor outcomes. The test is expected to be commercially available at the end of 2016 and gives patients and doctors significantly more information about their disease. 

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