Launch of the clonal vs. normal CD138⁺ spin-off study

Today marks the beginning of an exciting new chapter within the ELMUMY project - a spin-off study designed to address a key biological challenge in plasma cell dyscrasias. The main ELMUMY proteomics dataset is based on CD138⁺ bone marrow cells provided by Prof. Stathis Kastritis and Mrs. Christine-Ivy Liacos. However, these cells are an intrinsic mixture of clonal (cancerous) and polyclonal (normal) plasma cells, with proportions that vary greatly across disease stages. This heterogeneity poses a major limitation for bulk omics approaches, where profiles obtained from unsorted CD138⁺ populations reflect a blended signal of both malignant and healthy cells.

To overcome this challenge, Dr. Julie Courraud designed a dedicated spin-off study aiming to isolate clonal and normal plasma cells prior to proteomic analysis, enabling a far clearer and biologically meaningful interpretation of disease-specific protein expression patterns. During the past week, the first successful cell-sorting session was completed at the Flow Cytometry Facility of Prof. Rania Tsitsiloni’s lab, with Dr. Ioannis Kostopoulos performing the sorting. Proteomic analysis of the separated populations will follow, led by Dr. Julie Courraud and implemented by Dr. Paraskevi Karousi.