Kathy Giusti was driving in rush hour traffic one January day in 1996 when her doctor called and requested they meet the next morning about her recent blood tests. Alarmed, Giusti insisted on more details, and the doctor eventually shared his concerns that she may have multiple myeloma. Giusti’s response to this news was quick … Read more
Jim Omel, MD, helped many cancer patients during his long career as a family physician, and that has not changed since his own 1997 diagnosis with multiple myeloma. What has changed is the reach of his support. While Omel, 77, cared for primarily farming families near his Nebraska clinic during 25-plus years in practice, his … Read more
Multiple myeloma is a cancer of the bone marrow. It affects plasma cells, which are mature forms of blood cells called B-lymphocytes. In the case of multiple myeloma, abnormal plasma cells build up in the bone marrow, and can cause anemia. In addition, multiple myeloma may cause kidney problems, bone injury and fractures. There have … Read more
As a systems operator who works to help maintain the electrical grid for New York state, Brian Houlihan, 46, is used to getting power to the people. But when the multiple myeloma he has lived with since 2011 stopped responding to chemotherapy, it was Houlihan who needed a recharge. He got it, through an innovative … Read more
There are several bispecific antibodies approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of multiple myeloma, including teclistamab, elranatamab and talquetamab. Experts say that bispecific antibodies represent one of the most important advances in recent years against myeloma, a blood cancer diagnosed in more than 35,000 people in the United States each … Read more
For many patients with lymphoma or multiple myeloma, a stem cell transplant with their own stem cells (an autologous transplant) or CAR T-cell therapy can extend life significantly or even cure the disease. A variety of factors influence which of these two treatments is recommended, including: What is the difference between stem cell transplant and … Read more
Although multiple myeloma is relatively rare — accounting for about 2% of all cancers — it is twice as common among African Americans as white Americans. Every year, nearly 35,000 new cases of the disease are diagnosed in the United States, according to the American Cancer Society. About 24% of those cases are in African … Read more
As head of a family that includes seven children and 12 grandchildren, Susan Voigt says she is used to putting other people first. When it comes to trailblazing multiple myeloma treatment, however, she is proudly out in front. A longtime Vermont resident, Voigt, 69, was the first person from her state to receive CAR T-cell … Read more
For many patients with multiple myeloma, a new generation of drugs and drug combinations is producing better outcomes and fewer side effects. In recent months, several novel therapies studied and tested by Dana-Farber scientists have gained approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) or taken a step toward approval after posting solid results … Read more
Many sports stars have helped support research and care at Dana-Farber by appearing on the WEEI/NESN Jimmy Fund Radio-Telethon presented by Arbella Insurance Foundation, but few have done so quite like pro football wide receiver-turned-broadcaster Jimmy Cefalo. When Cefalo was interviewed on-air during the August 2019 event at Fenway Park, he used the opportunity to share some … Read more
In a surprising rebuttal of previous findings, a new study shows that African Americans with multiple myeloma have an overall higher survival rate than Caucasians with the disease when all patients have equal access to cutting-edge therapies. The results raise questions about the biology of this type of cancer. Multiple myeloma, a cancer that arises … Read more
The process of converting genetic information from DNA to RNA, known as transcription, is a joint undertaking. Sections of DNA, known as promoters, collaborate with other sections known as enhancers to recast the genetic code into a form that can be used by cells to make proteins. As with many partnerships, however, it hasn’t been … Read more
Advances against multiple myeloma have come at an especially rapid pace, with 10 new therapies approved in just the last 10 years. As a group, their impact “is greater than anything we’ve seen in myeloma,” says Nikhil Munshi, MD, director of Basic and Correlative Science at Dana-Farber’s Jerome Lipper Center for Multiple Myeloma.
Assessing a multiple myeloma patient’s predicted outcome and risk through genetic analysis can enable tailored treatment for individual patients.
Minimal residual disease negativity – or MRD negativity – is a highly sensitive measure of the effectiveness of therapy for multiple myeloma, a cancer of plasma cells of the bone marrow.
People diagnosed with precursor conditions that often lead to multiple myeloma currently have little way of gauging their risk of myeloma or knowing when, if ever, the disease might progress.
Thanks to major advances in treatment in recent years, patients diagnosed with multiple myeloma today have a much greater life expectancy, even though the blood cancer isn’t curable. It’s possible to think of myeloma – a malignancy affecting antibody-producing immune cells – as a chronic disease with which some individuals can live for many years. … Read more
When Linda Solomon, a trained medical technologist, saw the results of her routine complete blood count in 2009, she knew it wasn’t good news. Solomon, then 61, was diagnosed with stage III multiple myeloma – and given three years to survive. Several rounds of chemotherapy, two stem cell transplants, and eight years later, Solomon is … Read more
For patients with multiple myeloma, a treatable but incurable cancer that affects blood plasma cells, there are many new options for treatment that are producing better, and increasingly long-lasting outcomes. Approved options include immunomodulatory drugs, proteasome inhibitors and monoclonal antibodies. More recently, immunotherapies such as CAR T-cell therapies and bispecific antibodies have been approved. There … Read more
Multiple myeloma is a type of cancer that begins in plasma cells — cells in the bone marrow, that, under normal circumstances, are involved in our immune defense system and produce antibodies. In multiple myeloma, too many plasma cells (myeloma cells) build up in the bone marrow. The presence of these tumor cells in the … Read more