Purpose: Multiple myeloma remains an incurable disease. New approaches to develop better tools for improving patient prognostication and monitoring treatment efficacy are very much needed. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the potential of metabolomics by ¹H-NMR to provide information on metabolic profiles that could be useful in the management of multiple myeloma.

Experimental Design: Serum samples were collected from multiple myeloma patients at the time of diagnosis and after achieving complete remission. A matched control set of samples was also included in the study. The ¹H-NMR measurements used to obtain the metabolic profile for each patient were followed by the application of univariate and multivariate statistical analyses to determine significant differences.

Results: Metabolic profiles of multiple myeloma patients at diagnosis exhibited higher levels of isoleucine, arginine, acetate, phenylalanine, and tyrosine, and decreased levels of 3-hydroxybutyrate, lysine, glutamine, and some lipids compared with the control set. A similar analysis conducted in multiple myeloma patients after achieving complete remission indicated that some of the metabolic changes (i.e., glutamine, cholesterol, lysine) observed at diagnosis displayed a variation in the opposite direction upon responding to treatment, thus contributing to multiple myeloma patients having a closer metabolic profile to those of healthy individuals after the disappearance of major disease manifestations.

Conclusions: The results highlight the potential of metabolic profiles obtained by ¹H-NMR in identifying multiple myeloma biomarkers that may be useful to objectively discriminate individuals with and without multiple myeloma, and monitor response to treatment. Clin Cancer Res; 19(17); 4770–9. ©2013 AACR.