New research shows that excess weight increases the risk that a benign blood disorder will progress to multiple myeloma. The study, by a team at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, is published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. Being overweight or obese has been...
In an analysis of data from the National Cancer Database reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Go et al found a lower risk of all-cause mortality among patients with multiple myeloma treated at higher-volume facilities. Study Details The study included patients diagnosed with multiple...
In the spring of 2011, I was feeling so fatigued I needed to rest after walking just a few steps to the kitchen and not doing anything more strenuous than making a cup of coffee. Fortunately, I have a wonderful primary care physician who takes me seriously when I have a complaint about my health,...
The addition of the CD38-targeted antibody daratumumab (Darzalex) to lenalidomide (Revlimid)/dexamethasone improved progression-free survival in patients with previously treated multiple myeloma, according to the results of the phase III POLLUX trial reported by Dimopoulos et al in The New England...
Katja Weisel, MD, of the University of Tübingen, discusses in German study findings on daratumumab, bortezomib, and dexamethasone vs bortezomib and dexamethasone in patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma. (Abstract 906O)
Katja Weisel, MD, of the University of Tübingen, discusses study findings on daratumumab, bortezomib, and dexamethasone vs bortezomib and dexamethasone in patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma. (Abstract 906O)
In a meta-analysis reported in JAMA Oncology, Munshi et al found that minimal residual disease (MRD)-negative status was associated with improved survival in patients with newly diagnosed multiple myeloma. For the analysis, a literature search identified 21 English language articles published...
Long-term follow-up in the phase III QuiRedex trial indicates continued benefit of lenalidomide (Revlimid)/dexamethasone vs observation in preventing disease progression in patients with high-risk smoldering multiple myeloma, as reported by Maria-Victoria Mateos, PhD, of Instituto de Biologia...
The National Cancer Institute (NCI) recently announced a collaboration with the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation to incorporate the Foundation’s wealth of genomic and clinical data about the disease into the NCI Genomic Data Commons. NCI’s Genomic Data Commons is a publicly available database...
The CD38 antigen was first recognized on normal and abnormal plasma cells over 3 decades ago. Indeed, this antigen was originally classified as T10, as it was the tenth antigen described on T cells. Its distribution of expression included activated B and T cells, natural killer cells, leukocytes,...
In the phase III CASTOR trial reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Antonio Palumbo, MD, of the University of Turin, and colleagues found that adding the anti-CD38 antibody daratumumab (Darzalex) to bortezomib (Velcade) and dexamethasone markedly improved progression-free survival among ...
Analysis of data from the Veterans Administration Central Cancer Registry, reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Sanfilippo et al, showed that statin use was associated with a reduced risk of all-cause and multiple myeloma–specific mortality in patients with multiple myeloma....
Updated Outcomes, Impact of Age in Multiple Myeloma As reported by Hulin et al in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, the updated findings in the phase III FIRST trial continue to show improved progression-free and overall survival with continuous lenalidomide (Revlimid) plus low-dose dexamethasone...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Stewart et al found that treatment with carfilzomib (Kyprolis), lenalidomide (Revlimid), and dexamethasone (KRd) was associated with improved health-related quality of life vs lenalidomide/dexamethasone (Rd) in relapsed multiple myeloma in the phase...
In June 2016, the European Hematology Association Congress convened in Copenhagen, Denmark. The educational and scientific program highlighted state-of-the-art clinical practice and the latest findings in hematology research. The ASCO Post brings its readers brief summaries of some of the important ...
In the phase III CASTOR trial reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Palumbo et al found that adding the anti-CD38 antibody daratumumab (Darzalex) to bortezomib (Velcade) and dexamethasone markedly improved progression-free survival among patients with relapsed or relapsed and refractory...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted Breakthrough Therapy Designation to the immunotherapy daratumumab (Darzalex) in combination with lenalidomide (Revlimid) and dexamethasone, or bortezomib (Velcade) and dexamethasone, for the treatment of patients with multiple myeloma who have ...
S. Vincent Rajkumar, MD, of the Mayo Clinic, and Sagar Lonial, MD, of the Emory University School of Medicine, discuss key issues in treating this disease, including monoclonal antibodies, plasmacytoma, and plasma cell leukemia.
Beth M. Faiman, PhD, MSN, CNP, AOCN, of the Cleveland Clinic, discusses working with patients with multiple myeloma to minimize the toxicity of their treatment and improve their outcomes.
Here are several abstracts selected from the proceedings of the 2016 ASCO Annual Meeting, focusing on clinical trials on therapeutics in different types of leukemia, multiple myeloma, follicular lymphoma, and central nervous system (CNS) lymphoma. For full details of these study abstracts, visit...
As reported by Mateos et al in The Lancet Oncology, long-term follow-up in the phase III QuiRedex trial indicates continued benefit of lenalidomide (Revlimid)/dexamethasone vs observation in preventing disease progression in patients with high-risk smoldering multiple myeloma. Study Details In...
Obesity may be associated with an increased risk for death from multiple myeloma in African Americans, according to a study reported by Sonderman et al in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. Multiple myeloma incidence and mortality rates have been reported to be twice as high among...
As reported by Hulin et al in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, the updated findings in the phase III FIRST trial continue to show improved progression-free and overall survival with continuous lenalidomide (Revlimid) plus low-dose dexamethasone (Rd) vs melphalan, prednisone, and thalidomide (MPT)...
In 2015, four new drugs were approved for the treatment of multiple myeloma by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration: panobinostat (Farydak), daratumumab (Darzalex), elotuzumab (Empliciti), and ixazomib (Ninlaro). Of them, the first three are drugs with unique new targets, whereas ixazomib is the...
In the phase III TOURMALINE-MM-1 trial reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Philippe Moreau, MD, of the University Hospital Hôtel Dieu, Nantes, France, and colleagues found that adding the oral proteasome inhibitor ixazomib (Ninlaro) to lenalidomide (Revlimid) and dexamethasone...
Multiple myeloma cells uniformly overexpress CD38.1 Daratumumab (Darzalex), a CD38-targeting human IgG1 kappa monoclonal antibody, has been evaluated in a series of phase I/II trials involving patients with relapsed or relapsed and refractory myeloma who have received at least two or more prior...
In the phase II SIRIUS trial reported in The Lancet, Sagar Lonial, MD, of Winship Cancer Institute, Emory University, and colleagues found that the CD38-targeted monoclonal antibody daratumumab (Darzalex) produced durable responses in patients with multiple myeloma who had received at least three ...
Sagar Lonial, MD, of Emory University School of Medicine, and Paul G. Richardson, MD, of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, discuss the top presentations on multiple myeloma delivered at this year’s meeting.
It can be easy to miss the forest for the trees in the interpretation of clinical trials. In particular, trials for the treatment of cancer are exceedingly complex, with long lists of inclusion and exclusion criteria, designs with hidden biases, drugs with unpronounceable names (if not cumbersome...
For relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma, daratumumab (Darzalex), combined with bortezomib (Velcade) and dexamethasone, reduced relapses by 61% in the phase III CASTOR study reported at the 2016 ASCO Annual Meeting.1 “The results are unprecedented in a randomized study comparing a novel...
Antonio Palumbo, MD, of the University of Torino, discusses this phase III study of daratumumab, bortezomib, and dexamethasone versus bortezomib and dexamethasone in patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma (Abstract LBA4).
Antonio Palumbo, MD, of the University of Torino, discusses in Italian this phase III study of daratumumab, bortezomib, and dexamethasone versus bortezomib and dexamethasone in patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma (Abstract LBA4). To see the English language version of this video, please click here.
Initial findings from a pivotal phase III trial showed that daratumumab (Darzalex) added to a standard two-drug regimen (bortezomib [Velcade] and dexamethasone) markedly improved outcomes for patients with recurrent or refractory multiple myeloma. The daratumumab combination reduced the risk of...
Michele Cavo, MD, of the Seràgnoli Institute of Hematology, Bologna University School of Medicine, discusses in Italian results from this phase III study of upfront autologous stem cell transplantation vs novel agent-based therapy for multiple myeloma (Abstract 8000). To see the English language version of this video, please click here.
Michele Cavo, MD, of the Seràgnoli Institute of Hematology, Bologna University School of Medicine, discusses results from this phase III study of upfront autologous stem cell transplantation vs novel agent-based therapy for multiple myeloma (Abstract 8000). To see the Italian version of this interview, please click here.
Several clinical trials have demonstrated that maintenance therapy with lenalidomide (Revlimid) after autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplant reduces the risk of disease progression in patients with multiple myeloma, but there have been no definitive results regarding overall...
In 1996, the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN®) published its first set of Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology® (NCCN Guidelines®), covering eight tumor types. The NCCN Guidelines® are now published for more than 60 tumor types and topics. Some of the key updates for 2016 were...
Upfront autologous stem cell transplant remains the standard of care in patients with newly diagnosed multiple myeloma, even in the era of novel agents, according to a phase III study of the European Myeloma Network.1 “Our findings show that autologous stem cell transplant should remain the...
Early findings from a phase III clinical trial (EMN02/HO95 MM) showed that patients with multiple myeloma who received an autologous stem cell transplant survived longer without disease progression than those who received only chemotherapy using novel agents. This is the largest study reported to...
Moreau et al found that adding the oral proteasome inhibitor ixazomib (Ninlaro) to lenalidomide (Revlimid) and dexamethasone significantly prolonged progression-free survival among patients with relapsed, refractory, or relapsed and refractory multiple myeloma. They reported the findings from the...
A gene known as TJP1 (tight junction protein 1) could help determine which multiple myeloma patients would best benefit from proteasome inhibitors such as bortezomib, as well as combination approaches to enhance proteasome inhibitor sensitivity, according to a study led by researchers from The...
Studies presented at the 2015 ASH Annual Meeting bolstered support for elotuzumab (Empliciti) given in combination with lenalidomide (Revlimid) for the treatment of multiple myeloma. Elotuzumab is an immunostimulatory monoclonal antibody. It has a dual mechanism of action, directly activating...
Monoclonal antibodies targeting the programmed cell death protein (PD-1) receptor look promising in multiple myeloma, according to early reports presented at the 2015 ASH Annual Meeting and Exposition. Early signs of activity in heavily pretreated patients may indicate that, as in solid tumors,...
Although high-dose chemotherapy plus autologous transplantation has been a standard of care in the treatment of younger patients with newly diagnosed multiple myeloma, the advent of effective novel agents for the cancer over the past 15 years has raised the question of whether transplantation, with ...
Relatives of patients with carcinoma of unknown primary are at increased risk of developing it themselves as well as several other malignant neoplasms, including lung, pancreatic, and colon cancers; non-Hodgkin lymphoma; and myeloma, according to a study published in JAMA Oncology. “Some of...
International Myeloma Working Group recommendations for the diagnosis and management of myeloma-related renal impairment were recently reported by Dimopoulos et al in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. Recommendations were based on review of published data through December 2015. Key recommendations...
Kenneth Anderson, MD, of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, discusses how the many advances in the treatment of multiple myeloma affect current and future clinical practice.
In the Clinic provides overviews of novel oncology agents, addressing indications, mechanisms, administration recommendations, safety profiles, and other essential information needed for the appropriate clinical use of these drugs. On January 21, 2016, carfilzomib (Kyprolis) was approved for use in ...
Among the burgeoning options for treating multiple myeloma could be an approach that is proving to be exciting in leukemia: CAR-T (chimeric antigen receptor T cells) therapy. Preliminary results of the first-in-humans study in myeloma were presented as a late-breaking abstract at the 2015 ASH...
Here are several more abstracts selected from the proceedings of the 2015 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting and Exposition, focusing on newly diagnosed multiple myeloma, relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma, and amyloid light-chain (AL) amyloidosis. For other selected abstracts...