Multiple myeloma is the most frequent cancer to involve the skeleton, with up to 80 percent of patients having bone disease. Although fewer patients appear to have bone involvement more recently, it is still a major source of both complications and death among patients with myeloma.

Bone disease is so severe in myeloma because the normal bone remodeling process is disrupted. In normal individuals, damaged bone is removed by bone-destroying cells, the osteoclasts, and then bone is replaced by bone-forming cells, the osteoblasts. In myeloma, the number and activity of the bone-destroying …

A new study appearing in the July 9 issue of Blood discussed a potential therapeutic treatment that focuses on osteoblasts, the cells responsible for bone formation.

Myeloma patients commonly have high serum DKK1 levels, which may decrease with response to therapy for myeloma. DKK1, an important regulator of bone formation, has previously been associated with bone disease in cancers of the esophagus, lungs, prostate, and colon. However, DKK1 has recently emerged as a therapeutic target for suppressed bone formation. The study analyzed the effect of an antibody that neutralizes DKK1, called