Multiple myeloma rates have stayed steady among all age ranges over the past 50 years, according to a study published in Mayo Clinic Proceedings this month. The research, which tracked multiple myeloma diagnoses among all the residents of Sweden’s third-largest city, Malmo, between 1950 and 2005, contradicts the results of several previously-published studies that found that multiple myeloma rates increased in the 1960s and 1970s.

“The message of the paper is that age-adjusted [risk of developing] myeloma has been stable…

A diagnostic measure called plasma cell labeling index (PCLI) can help predict the likelihood that someone with smoldering multiple myeloma will eventually get multiple myeloma, wrote researchers in a letter to the editor published in this month’s Mayo Clinic Proceedings.

People with smoldering multiple myeloma have abnormal levels of certain cells and proteins in their blood, but don’t feel the symptoms of multiple myeloma. They are at risk for getting the cancer later.

The amount of plasma cells in a…

Curcumin has been garnering increased attention as a potential anticancer treatment. It is the major active compound in turmeric, a popular Indian spice made from the rhizomes, or underground stalks, of a plant in the ginger family.

In multiple myeloma and the precursor condition monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS), cell culture studies and one animal study have shown that curcumin can kill cancer cells and prevent them from multiplying. The Beacon also found two early-stage clinical trials studying curcumin’s…

Dr. Robert Kyle, a leading myeloma physician, researcher, and professor at the Mayo Clinic, spoke with The Myeloma Beacon about his approach to treating multiple myeloma patients; participation in clinical trials; many of the key issues for myeloma patients and physicians, including conventional and alternative treatment options; and the future of personalized medicine.

This article is the second part of a two-part series based on the Beacon’s conversations with Dr. Kyle. It will cover the role of clinical trials and…

Blood cancer patients who are treated with allogeneic cell transplants are less likely to experience severe acute graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) if their donors take statins, a commonly-used class of cholesterol-lowering drugs, according to a study published in the journal Blood in December. Because they also found that statins don’t reduce the therapeutic effects of the transplant, the authors of the study suggested that statins may be an effective preventative treatment for acute GVHD.

Allogeneic transplants “may very well” increase in…