A new weapon in the artillery against myeloma is Elotuzumab, a drug originally designed to target cancerous plasma cells. It has now also been found promising in the treatment of myeloma, a type of blood cancer.
A study looked at elotuzumab, an antibody which is designed to target CS1, a protein on the surface of malignant plasma cells. The antibody has the potential to attach to malignant plasma cells and eliminates them by an immune mechanism. The early stage trial combined elotuzumab with bortezomib, or Velcade, one of the novel chemotherapies approved to treat multiple myeloma, a cancer that arises in the plasma cells.
Multiple Myeloma
Multiple Myeloma caught public attention when model turned actress Lisa Ray, who worked in Deepa Mehta's 'Water' , declared that she had the incurable Multiple Myeloma.
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"Elotuzumab was found to work in synergy with bortezomib in a pre-clinical model, which served as the basis for this clinic trial. The regimen was well-tolerated, and many patients stayed on it for a long time," says Andrzej Jakubowiak, M.D., Ph.D., director of the Multiple Myeloma Program at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center.
The study was presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology annual meeting.
The study looked at 28 patients with multiple myeloma that had relapsed or become unresponsive to treatment. Overall, 48 percent responded to the elotuzumab and bortezomib combination and patients' cancer progressed after an average 9.45 months. These numbers are better than in previous studies of patients with less advanced disease treated with bortezomib alone in which 38 percent responded to the treatment and cancer progressed after an average of 6.22 months.
![Bone Marrow Transplantation - Animation]( "Bone Marrow Transplantation - Animation")
Animation and slides providing graphic explanation of Bone Marrow Transplantation (BMT)/Stem Cell Transplantation that is done for leukemia and other blood-related disorders.
"The study was not designed to evaluate statistical superiority of the combination of elotuzumab and Velcade, but it does appear to support our preclinical evidence that these two drugs work together," Jakubowiak says.
The researchers will next consider a study to compare the combination of elotuzumab and bortezomib against standard therapy to see if the combination achieves better results.
Source: ANI
The study looked at 28 patients with multiple myeloma that had relapsed or become unresponsive to treatment. Overall, 48 percent responded to the elotuzumab and bortezomib combination and patients' cancer progressed after an average 9.45 months. These numbers are better than in previous studies of patients with less advanced disease treated with bortezomib alone in which 38 percent responded to the treatment and cancer progressed after an average of 6.22 months.
Bone Marrow Transplantation - Animation
Animation and slides providing graphic explanation of Bone Marrow Transplantation (BMT)/Stem Cell Transplantation that is done for leukemia and other blood-related disorders.
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"The study was not designed to evaluate statistical superiority of the combination of elotuzumab and Velcade, but it does appear to support our preclinical evidence that these two drugs work together," Jakubowiak says.
The researchers will next consider a study to compare the combination of elotuzumab and bortezomib against standard therapy to see if the combination achieves better results.
Source: ANI
Carfilzomib Proves Beneficial With Fewer Side Effects in Multiple Myeloma
The second-generation proteasome inhibitor carfilzomib may be effective in the treatment of multiple myeloma as the drug has fewer side effects.
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 Women Less Likely to Undergo Bone Marrow TransplantationAfrican-Americans and women are less likely than Caucasians and men to undergo bone marrow transplantation to treat cancers of the blood. | Advertisement
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