Soluble PD-L1: A biomarker to predict progression of autologous transplantation in patients with multiple myeloma

Autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (AuHSCT) is standard in treating eligible multiple myeloma (MM) patients. However, the outcome after treatment is highly variable. We used ELISA to analyze the levels of soluble PD-L1 (suPD-L1) in bone marrow (BM) plasma from 61 patients with MM at 100 days after AuHSCT. Patients were classified into high (H) and normal-to-low (NL) groups depending on their suPD-L1 levels. Among patients who had a very good partial response (VGPR) or better after AuHSCT, those in the H-group had a shorter response period (RpSCT) as well as shorter overall survival (OS) than those in the NL-group. Multivariate analyses confirmed that a high suPD-L1 level and high-risk cytogenetic abnormalities are independent factors for RpSCT. Our data suggest that suPD-L1 in the BM plasma of MM patients who have VGPR or better after AuHSCT could be used as a biomarker to predict outcome.