Biologic and clinical applications of novel 3D mesenchymal stem cell model of the multiple myeloma b

Multiple myeloma (MM) is a hematological malignancy characterized by accumulation of malignant plasma cells (PC) in the bone marrow. The bone marrow represents the tumor microenvironment of myeloma cells which plays a central role in myeloma-genesis. Indeed the interaction between MM cells and the support/stromal cells mediates resistance to cell death, sustained proliferation, cell homing and invasion, immunosuppression, stemness and self-renewal, as well as angiogenesis, thereby promoting MM progression. The study aimed to create a model that could closely mimic the BM microenvironment and investigate its role in the pathogenesis of MM and drug resistance. For the purpose they built up a 3D co-culture ex-vivo model in which primary MM patient BM cells are co-cultured with mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) in a hydrogel 3D system. In summary, the results showed that the described model can actually mimic the physiology of the marrow and it can be used to:

• identify novel mechanisms to target to interrupt the disease progression;

• assess tumor cell sensitivity to conventional and novel anti-MM therapies.

Original article: A novel 3D mesenchymal stem cell model of the multiplemyeloma bone marrow niche: biologic and clinical applications Oncotarget. 2016 Nov 22;7(47):77326-77341. doi: 10.18632/oncotarget.12643.