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ASCO Updates Recommendations For Use Of Medications To Prevent Blood Clots In Myeloma Patients – Experts from the American Society of Clinical On­col­ogy (ASCO) recently updated their clinical practice guidelines on the pre­ven­tion and treatment of blood clots in cancer patients. The guidelines recommend that multiple myeloma patients who are receiving Revlimid (lenalido­mide) or thalidomide (Thalomid) with chemotherapy or dexamethasone (Decadron) should receive medication to prevent blood clots.  Specifically, those who are at low risk of developing a blood clot should receive preventative treatment with either low-molecular weight heparin or low-dose aspirin, and those who are at high risk of developing a blood clot should receive low-molecular weight hep­a­rin. The guidelines also note that novel oral anti-clotting agents are not recommended for cancer patients until more research is complete. Patients should also be routinely assessed for risk of developing a blood clot, according to the guidelines. For more information, please see the updated guidelines in the Journal of Clinical Oncology (pdf).

Gossypol May Slow Myeloma Cell Growth – Results from a recent preclinical study indicate that a com­pound known as gossypol may be able to slow myeloma cell growth. Gossypol is derived from the cotton plant.  It has been used as a male contraceptive and has shown promise for the treatment of a number of types of cancer. It works by inhibiting two proteins called Bcl-2 and Bcl-xl that prevent cell death and are often overabundant in cancer cells. Based on their findings, the researchers recommend further study of gossypol as a single-agent therapy or in combination with other chemotherapeutic drugs for the treatment of multiple myeloma. For more information, please refer to the study in Oncology Reports (abstract),

High-Risk Chromosomal Abnormalities Are More Common In Hypodiploid Myeloma Than Other Non-Hyperdiploid Types Of Myeloma – Findings from a recent retrospective analysis show that patients with hypodiploid multiple myeloma more frequently have high-risk chromosomal abnormalities than patients with other forms of non-hyperdiploid myeloma. Myeloma patients can be classified based on the number of chromosomes their myeloma cells have.  Normally, each cell in the body has 46 chromosomes.  Some types of myeloma, however, have more or fewer chromosomes than the normal cell. For example, patients with hyperdiploid myeloma have between 47 and 75 chromosomes.  Non-hyperdiploid myeloma includes hypodiploid myeloma in which the myeloma cells have 44 or fewer chromosomes, pseudodiploid myeloma in which the cells have 45 to 46 chromosomes, and near tetraploid myeloma in which the cells have more than 75 chromosomes. In particular, the study results show that hypodiploid myeloma patients have more of the following chromosomal abnormalities: only one copy (monosomy) of chromosomes 13, 14, and 22, as well as deletions in the chromosome arms 1p, 12p, 16q, and 17p. Previous studies have indicated that hypodiploid myeloma patients have poorer overall survival compared to hyperdiploid myeloma. For more information, please refer to the study in the journal Haematologica (pdf).