Journal of Personalized Medicine Review Minimal Residual Disease in Multiple Myeloma: State of the Art and Applications in Clinical Practice Alessandro Gozzetti * , Donatella Raspadori, Francesca Bacchiarri, Anna Sicuranza, Paola Pacelli, Ilaria Ferrigno, Dania Tocci and Monica Bocchia Division of Hematology, University of Siena, 53100 Siena, Italy;
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[email protected] (M.B.) * Correspondence:
[email protected]; Tel.: +39-0577-586784 Received: 19 July 2020; Accepted: 8 September 2020; Published: 10 September 2020 Abstract: Novel drugs have revolutionized multiple myeloma therapy in the last 20 years, with median survival that has doubled to up to 8–10 years. The introduction of therapeutic strategies, such as consolidation and maintenance after autologous stem cell transplants, has also ameliorated clinical results. The goal of modern therapies is becoming not only complete remission, but also the deepest possible remission. In this context, the evaluation of minimal residual disease by techniques such as next-generation sequencing (NGS) and next-generation flow (NGF) is becoming part of all new clinical trials that test drug efficacy. This review focuses on minimal residual disease approaches in clinical trials, with particular attention to real-world practices. Keywords: multiple myeloma; minimal residual disease; next-generation flow cytometry; next-generation sequencing; complete remission 1. Introduction Multiple myeloma (MM) is caused by monoclonal plasma cells that proliferate in the bone marrow causing anemia, hypercalcemia, kidney failure, or bone skeletal lesions (i.e., CRAB criteria) [1].