From CoMMpass to Patient Care: How MMRF Data Helped Advance a Breakthrough Myeloma Test

A team led by Jonathan Keats, Ph.D. at The Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen), part of City of Hope, has just launched JAYseq^TM, a new whole genome sequencing test for multiple myeloma. By delivering a detailed picture of a patient’s disease at the molecular level, the test can give doctors more information to help guide treatment decisions. TGen’s collaborations with the MMRF over the past 15 years on the MMRF’s Multiple Myeloma Research Consortium Genomics Initiative and CoMMpass Study established the value of whole genome sequencing in multiple myeloma and the importance of personalized treatment a reality for patients.

The MMRF’s Chief Scientific Officer George Mulligan, PhD, said that this test represents the Foundation’s longtime commitment to research that informs how patients are treated to improve outcomes.

“This test allows doctors to measure large and small genomic abnormalities in myeloma cells—information we expect clinicians will use more frequently to help guide treatment decisions,” Mulligan said. “This is a promising step toward more optimized patient care and another example of how the MMRF is helping deliver progress for patients.”

Note: JAYseq is not yet reimbursable by insurance, and the TGen Clinical Laboratory (a subsidiary of TGen) cannot accept samples collected in New York State. Clinicians can find more information about JAYseq here.

Whole genome sequencing can be used in multiple ways. The most recent definition of high-risk and low-risk myeloma (a predictor of how aggressive the disease will be), for example, relies on sequencing tumor genes.

Because genome sequencing is much more sensitive than tests like FISH, it can paint a far more complete picture of a tumor and better inform this risk assignment. Sequencing can also reveal tumor abnormalities that help doctors decide on a patient’s next treatment, such as the status of genes that are essential for BCMA-targeting therapies like CAR T-cell therapy and bispecific antibodies.

While there is one other whole genome sequencing test for myeloma on the market today, results can take several weeks. JAYseq takes just 72 hours.

“For the first time, JAYseq allows us to view the full genomic blueprint of each multiple myeloma tumor. This enables us to identify not only why a specific therapy might succeed, but also which mutations could cause it to fail,” said Keats, who serves as associate professor in TGen’s Integrated Cancer Genomics Division and scientific director of the Judy and Bernard Briskin Center for Multiple Myeloma Research at City of Hope. “This level of detail is essential for truly individualizing cancer care.”

JAYseq is named in honor of the late myeloma patient Jay Hollingsworth, whose sister, Susan Nason, helped support the development of the test in his honor. Hollingsworth’s myeloma journey showed why this test’s speed is so important, especially for patients with aggressive disease who relapse quickly.

Hollingsworth’s doctor at City of Hope Los Angeles recommended that he undergo CAR T-cell therapy after exhausting other treatment options. While his CAR T cells were being manufactured, Keats and his team sequenced Hollingsworth’s tumor.

The results were devastating: In a short amount of time, his tumor had lost the gene that would have made CAR T-cell therapy successful, but it had three copies of another gene that suggested a different treatment. Hollingsworth’s doctor switched treatments, sparing him from an intense, expensive CAR T-cell therapy that wouldn’t have worked.

Early on, Keats and his team at TGen knew they needed diverse tumor samples for the validation of JAYseq. They found the ideal set in the MMRF’s 1,100-patient CoMMpass Study, which is the largest myeloma dataset in the public domain.

CoMMpass is a central part of the MMRF’s efforts to define the complexity of myeloma and optimize patient care. For more than 15 years, the MMRF collaborated with the team at TGen first on the Multiple Myeloma Research Consortium Genomics Initiative and then to build the CoMMpass dataset and analyze its results. Both helped demonstrate the value of whole genome sequencing in myeloma.

Importantly, over the course of those 15 years, the team not only published key findings in scientific journals, but it also shared preliminary data with the global cancer research community every six months to spark the kind of large-scale collaboration that would yield impactful results for patients. To date, more than 700 published studies and counting have used data from CoMMpass patients, and CoMMpass is widely viewed as myeloma’s most valuable dataset.

In 2024, the MMRF and TGen teams extended their collaboration so TGen could use stored CoMMpass samples for the final stages of JAYseq’s assay validation.

“CoMMpass gave us something invaluable: a large, deeply characterized dataset that let us rigorously validate what whole genome sequencing can detect in myeloma and why it matters clinically,” Keats said. “But beyond the data, the MMRF brought the infrastructure and commitment to rapidly sharing findings with the global research community that accelerated everything we were able to learn. The MMRF has encouraged a culture of collaboration through 15 years of research and inspired scientists to pursue a new test that can actually reach patients.”

JAYseq not only represents the cutting-edge research and cross-institutional collaboration that the MMRF is known to foster but also the organization’s keen foresight. Since the MMRF was founded more than 25 years ago, the organization has helped usher numerous treatments from early clinical trials to real-world care, spent years building what are now today’s most valuable myeloma datasets, and pursuing some of the most innovative research initiatives across all cancers.

“JAYseq, like all tangible progress for myeloma patients, requires years of persistence, expertise, and vision that are the hallmarks of the MMRF’s approach,” said Chief Mission Officer Anne Quinn Young, MPH. “We’re proud of the fact that our studies and collaborations continue to drive new tests, treatments, and breakthroughs for patients everywhere.”