Relapsed/refractory (R/R) multiple myeloma remains an incurable hematological malignancy with an unmet clinical need.  It is necessary to gain a deeper understanding of the mechanisms driving disease progression and drug resistance in order to find new therapeutic targets for this patient population. In recent years, single-cell approaches including genomic, transcriptomic, and proteomic technologies have emerged as promising tools to decipher this complex disease.

In this episode chaired by Irene Ghobrial, MD, of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA, Rodger Tiedemann, PhD, ChB, MB, of Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, Toronto, ON, Yael Cohen, MD, of Tel-Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, Tel Aviv, Israel,  and Eileen Boyle, MD, PhD, of NYU Langone, New York City, NY, have a fascinating discussion on using single-cell multiomics to better understand the mechanisms of drug resistance and response to therapy, drawing focus on the impact of chromosome 1q copy number alterations on patient outcomes, as well as on signatures of drug resistance in primary refractory patients, and on how interactions between tumor cells and the tumor microenvironment can predict response to treatment. This discussion took place at The International Workshop on Myeloma 2022, held in Scottsdale, AZ.