Molecular basis of clonal evolution in multiple myeloma

The treatment outcome of multiple myeloma (MM) is worse than expected from the average numbers of non-synonymous mutations, which are roughly correlated with the prognosis of cancer patients. The refractoriness of MM may be ascribed to the complex genomic architecture and clonal behavior of the disease. In MM, disease progression is accomplished by branching patterns of subclonal evolution from reservoir clones with a propagating potential...