A team of Israeli researchers has expressed concern that surgical scars may be a particularly favorable environment for the development of difficult-to-treat extra­med­ul­lary disease in multiple myeloma patients.

Extramedullary disease occurs when myeloma cells form tumors outside of a patient’s bones.

The Israeli researchers also suggest that novel anti-myeloma therapies –such as thalidomide (Thalomid), Revlimid (lenalidomide), or Velcade (bortezomib) – and perhaps stem cell transplantation may foster the de­vel­op­ment of extra­med­ul­lary disease in scar …

Results of a recent observational study show that all known molecular subtypes of multiple myeloma are already present at the early, smol­der­ing myeloma and monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance stages of the disease.

According to the investigators, these findings indicate that the various molecular subtypes of myeloma, which have different genetic char­ac­ter­istics, are es­tab­lished early in the course of the disease.

The researchers defined the different molecular subtypes of myeloma they investigated based on a method called gene ex­pres­sion profiling. …

In a recent study conducted in Korea, investigators found that myeloma patients who had higher weights at diagnosis had the longest survival.

Patients who were underweight at diagnosis, on the other hand, had the lowest survival.

The results of the Korean study are similar to those reported by a recent study that examined weight at diagnosis and its impact on survival in U.S. veterans diagnosed with myeloma (see related Beacon news).

In the Korean study, investigators retrospectively analyzed data for …

Results of several studies investigating Revlimid main­te­nance ther­a­py for mul­ti­ple myeloma will be presented at this year’s American Society of Hema­tol­ogy (ASH) annual meeting, which starts later this week.

Today’s article previews the results of the key Revlimid main­te­nance studies that will be presented at the meeting, drawing on findings pub­lished in the meeting abstracts.  Some of the study results, it should be noted, will be updated during the presentations at ASH this week and early next week.

The results …

German researchers recently reported that certain chromo­som­al ab­nor­mal­i­ties in patients' myeloma cells are associated with more rapid pro­gression from smol­der­ing myeloma to active, or symptomatic, mul­ti­ple myeloma.

Specifically, patients in the study who had the chromo­som­al ab­nor­mal­i­ties del(17p), t(4;14), and 1q gain, as well as patients with more chromo­somes than normal (hy­per­dip­loi­dy), experienced shorter times until pro­gression to sympto­matic myeloma.

Previous studies have shown that hy­per­dip­loi­dy positively affects out­comes for patients with symptomatic myeloma. In this study, however, the investigators …

Results of a small Phase 1 study indicate that the investigational drug mila­tu­zu­mab on its own has limited efficacy in patients with advanced relapsed and re­fractory multiple myeloma.

The best response the investigators observed in their study was stable disease, which 20 percent of the patients achieved. One patient con­tin­ued to have stable disease without progression for 17 months.

According to the investigators, these results are in line with those for sev­er­al other agents in the same class of drugs, …

Results of a recent international Phase 3 study demonstrate that the addi­tion of Zolinza to Velcade increases response rates and slightly im­proves progression-free survival in relapsed and refractory myeloma patients compared to treatment with Velcade alone.

Specifically, 56 percent of patients responded to treatment with Zolinza (vorin­o­stat) plus Velcade (bortezomib) compared to 41 percent of patients treated with Velcade plus placebo.

However, despite improvements in responses, the difference in pro­gres­sion-free survival between the two treatment groups …