Multiple Myeloma Awareness Month: 2022 Immunotherapy Research Updates

Basic immunology research continues to provide new clues to defeat cancer and infectious disease, and for multiple myeloma, that means learning more about B cells. For example, CRI Lloyd J. Old STAR Alexander Marson, MD, PhD, of the University of California, San Francisco and team have found a “bouncer” for bone marrow–keeping B cells within germinal centers. And CRI Fellow Pranay Dogra, PhD, contributed to a recent study that shows the immune memory of COVID-19 infection is primarily stored in T and B cells within the lung and the lymph nodes surrounding the lung. 

This March for Multiple Myeloma Awareness Month, discover the latest treatments, research insights, and progress for a future immune to cancer.

Myeloma Treatment Update 

At the CRI Virtual Immunotherapy Patient Summit last October, Dr. Hearn Jay Cho of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and chief medical officer of the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation discussed the latest developments in checkpoint inhibitors, cell therapies, and cancer vaccines for leukemia, lymphoma, and multiple myeloma.

Your Myeloma Questions Answered

Dr. Cho didn’t have a chance to answer all the questions in his 40-minute session, so we followed up with him afterwards to discuss liquid biopsies, next-generation sequencing, stem cell transplants, and more. 

READ Q&A with Dr. Cho

Myeloma Scientist Spotlight 

CRI Fellow Weike Pei, PhD, is unraveling the role of TIM-3 in the regulation of blood cancer development and stimulation of anti-cancer immune responses. 

MEET WEIKE

Immunotherapy for Myeloma Info Update

The U.S. FDA has made five approvals for subsets of patients multiple myeloma in the last year: ciltacabtagene autoleucel (Carvykti™) in February 2022, daratumumab (DARZALEX®) in combination with other drugs in July and December 2021, and decabtagene vicleucel (Abecma®) and isatuximab (Sarclisa®) in March 2021. As the research and treatment landscape evolves, we keep our information up to date. 

READ MYELOMA UPDATE

Find a Myeloma Clinical Trial

A variety of new and promising cancer immunotherapy treatments are only available to patients in clinical trials. Help speed the development of potentially lifesaving drugs. Discover trials for which you or a loved one may be eligible with the CRI Immunotherapy Clinical Trial Finder.

FIND A CANCER CLINICAL TRIAL

Support Multiple Myeloma Research

CRI Lloyd J. Old STAR Dr. Joshua Brody of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai contributed to a recent study that reports a potentially serious side effect—symptoms resembling Parkinson’s disease—in a BCMA-targeted CAR T cell treatment for multiple myeloma. This Multiple Myeloma Awareness Month, support lifesaving cancer immunotherapy research. 

DONATE to multiple myeloma research