In a series of basic science experiments, researchers discovered a protein, GRP-78, that is responsible for resistance to Velcade (bortezomib) treatment in some solid tumor cancers. The study was published in the journal Blood last Thursday.

Perhaps one reason why Velcade is especially effective in treating multiple myeloma is because myeloma cells do not secrete GRP-78. Nevertheless, some people with multiple myeloma are resistant to Velcade treatment. This research, besides finding important knowledge about a variety of cancers that…

“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…

Even though doctors sometimes skip bone marrow exams during clinical trials, a Mayo Clinic study discovered that they are crucial after experimental multiple myeloma treatments. Other standard tests for multiple myeloma patients’ responses to treatments can give false positives if used alone. The study was published in the journal Blood in late July.

Whether the study’s findings will apply to patients not in clinical trials is up for debate. However, the findings are very important to doctors doing clinical trials…

Phase 2 trials will begin for a new form of melphalan (Alkeran), a form of low-dose chemotherapy for multiple myeloma patients, made by CyDex Pharmaceuticals, Inc. These studies will compare the effectiveness of CyDex’s new melphalan, Propylene Glycol-Free Melphalan HCL (CDX-353), and GlaxoSmithKline’s Alkeran in multiple myeloma patients who will be undergoing stem cell transplants.

According to CyDex’s press release, the advantages of the new treatment are its one-vial packaging, gentler formula, and increased stability at room temperature. “These…

Close relatives of people with multiple myeloma or monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS) have an increased risk of having MGUS, according to research published in the journal Blood on Thursday. The research found that parents, siblings, and children of people with multiple myeloma or MGUS are 2.6 times more likely to have MGUS than the general population. An MGUS diagnosis is associated with an increased risk of developing multiple myeloma.

Scientists at the Mayo Clinic looked at blood serum…