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Stem Cells
While driving in the car, I think I heard on NPR that Dr. Jamieson was conducting a stage 1 clinical trial involving stem cells with advanced leukemia patients. These patients were approaching the point where they would need an allogeneic SCT in order to survive, and although the trial was testing the safety of the procedure the patients were being cured. Since leukemia is a blood cancer like multiple myeloma, has anyone started thinking that this treatment might be useful to investigate in connection with multiple myeloma? I would appreciate hearing from Dr. Hofmeister and the Beacon Staff or anyone else who has heard about this on NPR.
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Linda
Re: Stem Cells
Hi Linda,
Could you clarify your question a bit? Are you asking whether allogeneic stem cell transplants have been considered as a potential treatment for multiple myeloma? If so, the answer is a definite "yes." The Beacon published an article on allogeneic transplants for multiple myeloma last November, and you'll find additional information at the links included in the article.
Please let us know if this answers your question, or if there is more to your question that we're currently seeing.
Good luck!
Could you clarify your question a bit? Are you asking whether allogeneic stem cell transplants have been considered as a potential treatment for multiple myeloma? If so, the answer is a definite "yes." The Beacon published an article on allogeneic transplants for multiple myeloma last November, and you'll find additional information at the links included in the article.
Please let us know if this answers your question, or if there is more to your question that we're currently seeing.
Good luck!
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Boris Simkovich - Name: Boris Simkovich
Founder
The Myeloma Beacon
Re: Stem Cells
Thanks for responding Boris.
Actually, I thought that this stage 1 clinical trial did not involve an allogeneic SCT. But I did not know what it was. I had turned on the car radio after the interview had started. The person talking about the trial sounded so excited, I thought the trial was dealing with something brand new involving embryonic stem cells.
I hope this clarifies things and that someone will be able to find out about Dr. Jamieson's clinical trial.
Actually, I thought that this stage 1 clinical trial did not involve an allogeneic SCT. But I did not know what it was. I had turned on the car radio after the interview had started. The person talking about the trial sounded so excited, I thought the trial was dealing with something brand new involving embryonic stem cells.
I hope this clarifies things and that someone will be able to find out about Dr. Jamieson's clinical trial.
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Linda
Re: Stem Cells
Hi Linda,
I think I understand your question better now. I wasn't sure from your initial question what kind of stem cells you were asking about. Now it's clear that you were focusing on embryonic stem cells.
I've searched the database at ClinicalTrials.Gov, and I wasn't able to find any clinical trials that have been conducted -- or are being conducted -- involving embryonic stem cells and multiple myeloma. There also don't seem to be any current or recent leukemia trials that have involved embryonic stem cells.
If the program you heard involved Dr. Catriona Jamieson from UC San Diego, then she probably was talking about "cancer stem cells" -- stem cells that can become cancer cells. This is apparently a focus of Dr. Jamieson's research. It's an interesting concept, and I'm not sure how much it has been explored in multiple myeloma research.
Here is a description of Dr. Jamieson's research from an article in The Huffington Post,
Dr. Jamieson was recently quoted in a program on the CBS Evening News about stem cells, so perhaps that is where you heard her.
Hope this helps!
I think I understand your question better now. I wasn't sure from your initial question what kind of stem cells you were asking about. Now it's clear that you were focusing on embryonic stem cells.
I've searched the database at ClinicalTrials.Gov, and I wasn't able to find any clinical trials that have been conducted -- or are being conducted -- involving embryonic stem cells and multiple myeloma. There also don't seem to be any current or recent leukemia trials that have involved embryonic stem cells.
If the program you heard involved Dr. Catriona Jamieson from UC San Diego, then she probably was talking about "cancer stem cells" -- stem cells that can become cancer cells. This is apparently a focus of Dr. Jamieson's research. It's an interesting concept, and I'm not sure how much it has been explored in multiple myeloma research.
Here is a description of Dr. Jamieson's research from an article in The Huffington Post,
"adult stem cells" ... are normally present throughout our bodies and help us replace cells that are damaged. They've been found in many organs, including breast, colon, and blood (in fact, it's the adult stem cells in bone marrow that are the basis for bone marrow transplants). In recent years, researchers have discovered that these normal stem cells can produce cancer stem cells that then create cancers - for example, breast cancer, colon cancer, and leukemia. One reason why this discovery is so important is that it may help explain why cancers recur despite chemotherapy. After producing "regular" cancer cells, cancer stem cells can stop dividing and become dormant -- thereby escaping chemotherapy, which usually works by destroying cancer cells only as they divide. The "regular" cancer cells -- which are still dividing -- may be destroyed by the chemotherapy. But the dormant cancer stem cell may be able to play possum for years, then awaken, start dividing again, and cause a recurrence.
Supported by the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, Dr. Catriona Jaimeson and her team at UC San Diego are testing a drug that targets the cancer stem cell responsible for a kind of leukemia. The drug was developed by TargeGen and is now being studied in a clinical trial. When I recently visited Dr. Jaimeson, she introduced me to a patient who had been on the brink of developing leukemia and is now living a normal life after taking the experimental drug. The hope is to discover ways of identifying and targeting cancer stem cells in a variety of cancers.
Dr. Jamieson was recently quoted in a program on the CBS Evening News about stem cells, so perhaps that is where you heard her.
Hope this helps!
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Boris Simkovich - Name: Boris Simkovich
Founder
The Myeloma Beacon
Re: Stem Cells
There was an article a while back in the Beacon -- here it is -- that discussed how Velcade treatment can leave behind "dormant" multiple myeloma cells. I wonder if those "dormant" cells are dormant cancer stem cells similar to the ones that Dr. Jamieson is investigating in regard to leukemia.
Re: Stem Cells
Thank you again Boris. Your response certainly clears things up for me. The interview I heard on NPR was not with Dr. Jamieson herself, but I'm sure it was about the work you cited.
Thanks to you too, Ricardo. The article you mentioned about Velcade and salubrinol certainly seems worth investigating.
Thanks to you too, Ricardo. The article you mentioned about Velcade and salubrinol certainly seems worth investigating.
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Linda
Re: Stem Cells
Linda-
You might be able to go to NPR's website and get a podcast of that interview. What Boris quoted was very interesting. Since multiple myeloma is a blood cancer and we get our own stem cells in the ASCT hoping that there aren't too many multiple myeloma stem cells in the lot and that the chemo has killed the multiple myeloma producing stem cells in the marrow, it would be wonderful if Dr. Jamieson's research would eventually be applicable to multiple myeloma.
Nancy
That was a long complicated sentence wasn't it?
You might be able to go to NPR's website and get a podcast of that interview. What Boris quoted was very interesting. Since multiple myeloma is a blood cancer and we get our own stem cells in the ASCT hoping that there aren't too many multiple myeloma stem cells in the lot and that the chemo has killed the multiple myeloma producing stem cells in the marrow, it would be wonderful if Dr. Jamieson's research would eventually be applicable to multiple myeloma.
Nancy
That was a long complicated sentence wasn't it?
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NStewart - Name: Nancy Stewart
- Who do you know with myeloma?: self
- When were you/they diagnosed?: 3/08
- Age at diagnosis: 60
Re: Stem Cells
Dear Nancy,
I understood exactly what you said. And because of what you said, I found this youtube video of Dr. Jamieson. I've also sent an email to NPR XM, and if I get a response I'll post it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUK9Pby928Y/url
I understood exactly what you said. And because of what you said, I found this youtube video of Dr. Jamieson. I've also sent an email to NPR XM, and if I get a response I'll post it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUK9Pby928Y/url
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Linda
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