The adverse effect of FOPNL genomic variant is reversed by bortezomib-based treatment protocols in multiple myeloma

Fibroblast growth factor receptor 1 oncogene partner N-terminal like gene (FOPNL) rs72773978 polymorphism was identified as an adverse prognostic factor in multiple myeloma (MM). We aimed to investigate the associations of rs72773978 with clinical characteristics and treatment outcome in 373 Hungarian MM patients. In our cohort, FOPNL polymorphism showed differential prognostic effect that depended on the treatment applied. Among patients treated with non-proteasome inhibitor (PI)-based therapy, carriership of the minor allele was significantly associated with adverse overall survival (p=.022). In contrast, the adverse effect was overcome by the application of PI-containing treatment (p=.048). Multivariate analyses revealed the independent adverse effect of rs72773978 on survival in the non-PI-treated group (p=.045), but not in PI treatment (OS: p=.093). We confirmed the adverse prognostic effect of rs72773978 associated with non-PI-based treatment regimens. Our results point to the importance of genotypic prognostic information associated with complex clinical background MM.