Enriched Adaptive Immunity and Reduced Inflammatory Response in Plasma Cell Disorders of Self-Identified Black Patients
The tumor microenvironment of medulloblastoma: from emerging biological insights to novel therapeutic targeting
September 2, 2026African Genetic Similarity Is Associated with Reduced Inflammation and Enhanced Adaptive Immunity in Multiple Myeloma
October 5, 2026Primary Author: Hongwei Tang
Blood. 2026 Oct 5:blood.2026033998. doi: 10.1182/blood.2026033998. Online ahead of print.
ABSTRACT
The immune tumor microenvironment (iTME) plays a crucial role in disease biology of plasma cell (PC) dyscrasias, but remains poorly characterized in self-identified Black individuals, a population at increased risk. Mass cytometry and scRNA-seq of 128 bone marrow aspirates revealed significant changes in immune cell composition across the disease spectrum, including shifts from naïve to effector T cells with declines in B cells, MAIT, pDCs, and increases in monocytes with disease progression. Self-identified Black patients had higher relative proportions of terminally differentiated T cells and lower monocytes in newly diagnosed and treated multiple myeloma (MM). ScRNA-seq revealed genes overexpressed in self-identified Black individuals were enriched for E2F targets and G2-M checkpoints, while reduced genes were enriched for TNF-α/NF-kB, interferon and inflammatory responses pathways. These findings were supported by genetic ancestry and validated in an independent dataset of 286 patients with MM from the MMRF Immune Atlas. Self-identified race and African genetic similarity are significantly associated with remodeling the MM iTME, with potential implications for disease biology and treatment response.
PMID:42832394 | DOI:10.1182/blood.2026033998
