News

A new class of drugs that activate a protein in cells’ endoplasmic reticulum may be used as an adjuvant therapy to treat B-cell malignancies, according to the study “Agonist-mediated activation of STING induces apoptosis in malignant B cells,” published in Cancer Research. The cellular endoplasmic reticulum…

Researchers at Buffalo, New York-based Roswell Park Cancer Institute revealed that knocking down individual RabGTPases (Rab) proteins in myeloma cells was sufficient to disrupt the trafficking of monoclonal protein, but did not cause cell death. The study was presented at the 2016 American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting in New…

Researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, in collaboration with other institutions, identified a gene called TJP1 that could help predict which multiple myeloma (MM) patients are most likely to respond and benefit from proteasome inhibitor drugs like bortezomib. The findings, “Tight Junction Protein…

Takeda Pharmaceutical has published promising data from the TOURMALINE-MM1 Phase 3 clinical trial of patients with relapsed and/or refractory multiple myeloma (MM), treated with the combination of once-weekly oral Ninlaro (ixazomib) capsules and lenalidomide-dexamethasone or placebo and lenalidomide-dexamethasone. The results, also presented at the 57th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Hematology (ASH)…

The International Myeloma Foundation (IMF) has announced new funding for the first comprehensive screening study that aims to prevent myeloma before it develops. The funded study, titled “iStopMM (Iceland Screens Treats or Prevents Multiple Myeloma),” will examine blood samples from 140,000 people in Iceland over the age of 40, seeking the earliest signs of the…

A preliminary clinical study at Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center demonstrated that antibody treatment could decrease by half the number of cancer stem cells, which control the progression of cancer in almost all patients suffering from multiple myeloma. The efficiency of the antibody MEDI-551 was studied in 15 patients suffering from…

The diagnosis and management of myeloma in the very elderly is especially challenging, despite improvements in therapies. A review study, “Multiple myeloma in the very elderly patient: challenges and solutions, published in Clinical Interventions in Aging, suggested ways of overcoming the difficulties to maximize these patients’ length and quality of life. New drug development has…

A research team led by William Matsui, MD, and Carol Ann Huff, MD, with the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center, has found that MedImmune’s novel MEDI-551 antibody treatment effectively decreased the number of cancer stem cells, which drive the growth of cancer, in most patients with recently diagnosed multiple myeloma. Study results will be…

Advocates working to raise awareness and funds for multiple myeloma successfully climbed Mount Kilimanjaro, and a documentary about the climb premiered last month at the Eden Roc Miami. The group included 15 multiple myeloma patients, doctors, family members, and supporters. The climb took place in January and raised about $250,000 for the disease.

A screening study — the largest of its kind for myeloma — hopes to find a way to prevent myeloma before it develops. The study, called iStopMM (Iceland Screens Treats or Prevents Multiple Myeloma), was announced by the International Myeloma Foundation (IMF), which is funding the research. The organization is the largest…