Minimal Residual Disease Evaluation Using 8-Color Flow Cytometry Predicts Risk Of Relapse In High-Risk And/Or Young Myeloma Patients Who Receive Bortezomib Consolidation After Frontline Tandem Transplantation

Introduction: Multiple myeloma (MM) remains incurable with standard therapies. Allogeneic stem cell transplantation (alloSCT) is the only curative treatment for these patients. We hypothesized that bortezomib (BTZ) consolidation after tandem autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT) and nonmyeloablative (NMA) alloSCT could improve quality of response while decreasing relapse and cGVHD. We also sought to determine prospectively the predictive value of bone marrow minimal residual disease (MRD) evaluation using a highly sensitive flow cytometry assay.