The centrosome index is a powerful prognostic marker in myeloma and identifies a cohort of patients that might benefit from aurora kinase inhibition

Centrosome amplification is common in myeloma and may be involved in disease pathogenesis. We have previously derived a gene express ion-based centrosome index (CI) that correlated with centrosome amplification and was an independent prognostic factor in a small cohort of heterogeneously treated patients. In this study, we validated the prognostic significance of the CI in 2 large cohorts of patients entered into clinical trials and showed that a high CI is a powerful independent prognostic factor in both newly diagnosed and relapsed patients, whether treated by intensive therapy (total therapy 11) or novel agents (bortezomib). Tumors with high Cl overexpressed genes coding for proteins involved in cell cycle, proliferation, DNA damage, and G(2)-M checkpoints, and associated with the centrosome and kinetochore/ microtubules. In particular, aurora kinases are significantly overexpressed in patients with high Cl, with concordant increase in protein expression. Human myeloma cell lines with higher Cl are more responsive to treatment with a novel aurora kinase inhibitor. Aurora kinase may represent novel therapeutic targets in these patients with very poor prognosis.