Study design and participants
newly-diagnosed MM, peripheral blood
For quantitative immunoprecipitation mass spectrometry (QIP-MS), we included peripheral blood (PB) serum samples from 480 GMMG-MM5 patients at baseline, from 444 of these patients after three cycles of either VCD or PAd induction therapy and prior to HDM/ASCT, from 305 patients prior to maintenance treatment or observation in case of CR in arm B of the trial, and from 227 patients after one year (±3 months) of maintenance treatment or observation. The design and main outcomes of the prospective, open-label, multicenter phase III trial GMMG-MM5 trial, which enrolled a total of 604 transplant-eligible patients with newly-diagnosed MM, have been previously reported [