Personalized Vaccine for Smoldering Myeloma: Could It Prevent Progression? | IMS 2026

Marta Chesi, PhD, and Leif Bergsagel, MD, of Mayo Clinic Arizona discuss early research on a personalized vaccine to keep smoldering myeloma from progressing at IMS 2026 in Glasgow. The vaccine is built from the genetic changes in each patient's myeloma and protected mice from myeloma in laboratory studies. They explain which lower-risk smoldering patients they hope to study and why timing matters while the immune system is still strong. This approach has only been tested in mice and is still years from clinical use.

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Timestamps:

0:00 Introduction

0:43 Testing the vaccine in a mouse model

2:11 How a personalized vaccine would work in patients

2:49 Who could benefit and how soon

3:38 Why mice? Safety results

4:53 How vaccines work against cancer

6:53 Related trials in colorectal cancer and melanoma

7:27 Why vaccinating early matters