Abstract P06: Characterization of the Immune Tumor Microenvironment in a Diverse Cohort of Patients with Multiple Myeloma
Authors: Shivaram Suganti , Tang Hongwei , Yan Huihuang , Tian Shulan , Qin Guyu , Anderson Emilie , Sharma Neeraj , Bolarinwa Abiola , Zepeda-Mendoza Cinthya , Lehman Stacey , Gomez Felicia , Mitra Amit , Dasari Surendra , Kourelis Taxiarchis , Kumar Shaji , Baughn Linda 
Published: March 2024

Multiple myeloma (MM) is the most common blood cancer in African American (AA) individuals. AAs have an increased risk of developing Monoclonal Gammopathy of Undetermined Significance (MGUS) and MM compared to non-Hispanic White (NHW) individuals. While several studies have shown a pivotal role for the immune tumor microenvironment (iTME) in MM pathogenesis, the composition of the iTME in AAs with MM is under investigated. Viably frozen whole bone marrow (BM) aspirates from 128 individuals (53 AA and 75 NHW) with either MM (n=65), MGUS (n=28), smoldering MM (SMM, n=13), or healthy controls (n=22) were evaluated by single cell RNA-sequencing (scRNA-seq) or mass cytometry (CyTOF). We characterized 34 (14 AA and 20 NHW) by scRNA-seq and 94 (39 AA and 55 NHW) by CyTOF. CyTOF samples were stained with Maxpar Direct Immune Profiling Assay Kit (Fluidigm), acquired on a Helios mass cytometer and analyzed in Cytobank. Data were analyzed by logistic equivalent regression model with p&lt;0.05 for significance. ScRNA-seq samples were processed as in Yao, 2022. Data were normalized using scvi-tools and clustered by Uniform manifold approximation and projection (UMAP). Differentially expressed markers between clusters were identified using Model-based Analysis of Single-cell Transcriptomics (MAST) in Seurat R package at FDR &lt; 0.05 and log2 fold change &gt; 0.55. ScRNA-seq of the CD45+ non-tumor lymphocytes revealed 17 immune populations (HSC, erythroblast, MDSC, GMP, CD1c+ DC, CD4+ and CD8+ T cell, CD14+ M1 macrophage, CD16+monocyte, monocyte, pDC, naïve B, pre-B, pro-B, memory B, NK/MAIT). CD3E/D+cells were clustered into naïve/central memory (CCR7+, LEF1+, SELL+), memory (GZMK+), effector (GZMB+, GZMH+, FGFBP2+), g/d (TRDC+), MAIT (SLC4A10+, KLRB1+) and IFN CD8+ T cells (IFIT1+, IFIT2+,IFIT3+). Disease progression was associated with increases in median CD4+ and CD8+ GZMK+ T cells, memory B cells and a reduction in all monocyte clusters. Within the diseased cohort in comparison to NHW patients, AA patients had increased CD3+ T cells (CD4 and CD8+) (AA 57.5% vs. NHW 44.3%) and a reduction in overall monocytes (AA 10.5% vs. 26.5%). These results were validated by CyTOF, which confirmed an increase in CD3+ T cells (AA 53.7% vs. NHW 35.7%, p&lt;0.001) including increases in CD8+ (AA 7.0% vs. NHW 3.2%, p&lt;0.05) and CD4+ terminal effector T cells (AA 5.7% vs. NHW 2.7%, p&lt;0.05) and a reduction in monocytes (AA 18.3% vs. NHW 26.6%) among AAs. After adjusting for age and sex, AAs retained an increase in T cells (OR 1.59 (95%CI 1.2-2.01, p=0.00023)) and a reduction in monocytes (OR 0.88 (95%CI 0.78-1, p=0.045)). Despite the increase in CD8+ T cells in AA patients, we identified reduced GZMK+ T cells and reductions in exhaustion markers (TIGIT, LAG3, TOX) in CD8+ T cells in comparison to NHWs. Nevertheless, the distribution of the immune populations was similar between healthy AA and NHW individuals. Our multiomics approach to characterize the iTME identified significant differences among AA compared to NHW patients with MM.

Citation Format: Suganti Shivaram, Hongwei Tang, Huihuang Yan, Shulan Tian, Guyu Qin, Emilie Anderson, Neeraj Sharma, Abiola Bolarinwa, Cinthya Zepeda-Mendoza, Stacey Lehman, Felicia Gomez, Amit Mitra, Surendra Dasari, Taxiarchis Kourelis, Shaji Kumar, Linda Baughn. Characterization of the Immune Tumor Microenvironment in a Diverse Cohort of Patients with Multiple Myeloma [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Blood Cancer Discovery Symposium; 2024 Mar 4-6; Boston, MA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Blood Cancer Discov 2024;5(2_Suppl):Abstract nr P06.