What insights can multi-omics provide into the mechanism of disease progression in WM?

On behalf of the International Waldenstrom's Macroglobulinemia Foundation (IWMF), the Lymphoma Hub was pleased to speak with Zachary Hunter, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, US. We asked, What insights can multi-omics provide into the mechanism of disease progression in Waldenstrom’s macroglobulinemia (WM)?

Hunter begins by highlighting the importance of multi-omics in understanding the disease biology of WM, which allows better diagnosis and guides in developing targeted treatment strategies. He then goes on to discuss how focusing on DNA and RNA as “tools” is used for local regulation of genes, as well as how general epigenomics can be used to create targeted therapeutics. In addition, Hunter emphasizes the importance of using a treatment that specifically targets cancerous cells without harming healthy cells. Finally, he touches on how understanding the disease molecular mechanism is vital in multi-omics to create clusters of characteristics to better understand an individual’s disease progression and a patient’s treatment response.