A new study in the journal Blood investigates why myeloma cells often fail to respond to the chemotherapy intended to kill them. The study reports that macrophages found in bone marrow may be keeping multiple myeloma cells from dying. Macrophages are white blood cells that typically destroy invading cells, including tumor cells.

In this study, myeloma cells were isolated from the bone marrow of myeloma patients and macrophages from the blood of healthy donors. The two cell types were grown …

“For as long as I can remember, I have been a builder, a fixer, an explorer,” said myeloma patient Scott Woodward in a speech at an event benefitting Gilda’s Club, a cancer support group. “You’d want me along if you ever got shipwrecked.”

After a boyhood fixing motorcycles and rider lawnmowers, Woodward is now a New York-based mechanical engineer who researches the fluid dynamics of blood. He has lived with multiple myeloma since his diagnosis just after Christmas in …

Pathologic fractures in myeloma patients undergoing bisphosphonate therapy do not indicate disease progression, according to a recent article published in the American Journal of Roentgenology.

Pathologic fractures are bone breaks in an area already weakened by another disease process. Myeloma tumors weaken bone, and pathologic fractures are frequent complications for myeloma patients. In fact, thirty percent of patients are diagnosed with myeloma after developing this type of fracture.

Bisphosphonates, given in conjunction with chemotherapy drugs, are the most common treatment …

"They put me on some routine blood tests and it showed up in there," said Karen Crowley, a proud mother and writer of the blog “The Adventures of Cancer Girl.” “I didn’t even feel sick, and all of a sudden, I had cancer.”

Crowley was diagnosed in November 2005 with smoldering myeloma – a type of myeloma that advances slowly and exhibits no symptoms. As a relatively healthy 34-year-old woman, Crowley had never heard the term “multiple myeloma” until she …

According to the results of a new study in the journal Annals of Hematology, successfully treating H. pylori, a common bacterial infection, does not lead to monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS) remission.

These results, also supported by other researchers’ work, refute a previous study that suggested H. pylori eradication could cure approximately 30 percent of MGUS cases.

MGUS is an asymptomatic blood disorder characterized by an abnormally elevated level of monoclonal protein, which is often discovered during …

A Phase 1 clinical trial recently reported in the journal Clinical Cancer Research indicated that the novel drug combination of Velcade (bortezomib) and Zolinza (vorinostat) may be effective in patients with relapsed or refractory myeloma.

Previous preclinical results suggested that Zolinza enhances Velcade’s therapeutic effect. However, this is the first clinical trial to describe the combination of a histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitor (Zolinza) and a proteasome inhibitor (Velcade) in heavily pre-treated relapsed or refractory myeloma patients. …

Research shows that approximately 20 percent of multiple myeloma patients develop kidney failure. Kidney failure occurs as a consequence of elevated calcium levels in the blood or when proteins called light chains are produced in excess - overloading the kidneys with protein.

Normally, the kidneys remove wastes, extra fluids, and minerals from the blood. But when they stop functioning, harmful wastes build up and this can cause other complications such as high blood pressure. Generally, kidney failure can worsen …