Multiple Myeloma Awareness Month: 2020 Immunotherapy Research Update

Normally, B cells provide important instructions to plasma cells in our bone marrow to make disease-fighting antibodies. When DNA-damaged B cells provide bad instructions, plasma cells produce abnormal M proteins and become myeloma cells. It's just a few small mistakes in a few tiny cells, and yet, in 2018, 159,985 people worldwide were diagnosed with multiple myeloma.

This March for Multiple Myeloma Awareness Month, we look at new FDA approvals, brilliant researchers, and how we’re working toward a future immune to multiple myeloma.

New FDA Approval

On March 2, the FDA has approved isatuximab-irfc (Sarclisa), a CD38-directed cytolytic antibody, in combination with pomalidomide and dexamethasone, for the treatment of adult patients with multiple myeloma who have received at least two prior therapies.

Learn more about the new FDA approval

Multiple Myeloma Webinar

In this webinar for patients and caregivers, Dr. Hearn Jay Cho of the Mt. Sinai School of Medicine discusses the latest research and developments in cancer immunotherapy for cancers of the blood, including leukemia, lymphoma, and multiple myeloma.

Multiple Myeloma Scientist Spotlight

CRI CLIP Investigator Suzanne Lentzsch, MD, PhD, is investigating how a particular enzyme—matrix metalloproteinase-13, or MMP-13—is involved in the destruction of bone tissue. Already, her team has found that multiple myeloma cells express MMP-13 at high levels and that it binds to and activates the cells implicated in bone degeneration.

Learn about Dr. Lentzsch's research

Multiple Myeloma Scientist Spotlight

B cells play important roles in adaptive immune responses, and much of their behavior is dictated by the activity of their B cell receptors (BCRs). CRI Fellow Ross W. Cheloha, PhD, is employing novel methods to track BCRs in B cells through their development in order to understand how these processes go awry in cancer, especially myeloma and lymphoma.

Learn about Dr. Cheloha's research

Immunotherapy for Multiple Myeloma
Information Updated

Immunotherapy is a promising new treatment option for multiple myeloma patients, with the potential to result in long term cancer remission similar to the results of allogeneic bone marrow transplantation of blood stem cells. Today’s researchers and clinicians are excited about the next generation of monoclonal antibodies, CAR T cells, antibody-drug conjugates, and bi-specific T cell and Natural Killer cell engaging agents.

View Immunotherapy for Multiple Myeloma Update

Find a Multiple Myeloma Clinical Trial

A variety of new and promising cancer immunotherapy treatments are only available to patients in clinical trials. Our Clinical Trial Finder will match you to trials for which you may be eligible, and you can help speed the development of lifesaving drugs for yourself and others.

Find a cancer clinical trial

Support Multiple Myeloma Research

The Cancer Research Institute funds research projects in non-invasive measurements of myeloma tumor progression, disease regression in patients treated for recurrent multiple myeloma, the utilization of myeloma-specific T cells in treatment, and combination immunotherapy targeting myeloma-associated MAGE antigens. This Multiple Myeloma Awareness Month, support lifesaving cancer immunotherapy research.

Donate to Multiple Myeloma Research