We hypothesized that genetic variability in the enzymes/proteins involved in drug metabolism, inflammation, and immune function is a major underlying contributor to mucositis incidence and progression and that, based on this variability we can identify variants that influence risk, and develop a mucositis progression prediction model that improves on existing models by incorporating genetic variability along with clinical factors. Using genome wide association study (GWAS) combined with a pathway candidate gene approach and a modified case-control study method, we investigated the hypothesis in a sample of 1092 patients who received a myeloablative dose of melphalan (MEL) followed by autologous hematopoietic stem cell (ASCT) transplantation as treatment for multiple myeloma and for whom banked blood stem cell samples and clinical data were available.

We hypothesized that genetic variability in the enzymes/proteins involved in drug metabolism, inflammation, and immune function is a major underlying contributor to mucositis incidence and progression and that, based on this variability we can identify variants that influence risk, and develop a mucositis progression prediction model that improves on existing models by incorporating genetic variability along with clinical factors. Using genome wide association study (GWAS) combined with a pathway candidate gene approach and a modified case-control study method, we investigated the hypothesis in a sample of 1092 patients who received a myeloablative dose of melphalan (MEL) followed by autologous hematopoietic stem cell (ASCT) transplantation as treatment for multiple myeloma and for whom banked blood stem cell samples and clinical data were available.