Emerging treatments

Oral therapy for multiple myeloma: ixazomib arriving soon.Moreau P. Blood. 2014 Aug 14;124(7):986-7. doi: 10.1182/blood-2014-06-581611.A multicenter, open-label phase II study of recombinant CPT (circularly permuted TRAIL) plus thalidomide in patients with relapsed and/or refractory multiple myeloma.Geng C et al. Am J Hematol. 2014 Aug 4. doi: 10.1002/ajh.23822. [Epub ahead of print].Novel AKT inhibitor afuresertib shows…

Biology and genetics

Pro-apoptotic effect of an anti-CD37 scFv-Fc fusion protein, in combination with the anti-CD20 antibody, ofatumumab, on tumour cells from B-cell malignancies. Smolewski P et al. Eur J Cancer. 2014 Aug 18. pii: S0959-8049(14)00873-9. doi: 10.1016/j.ejca.2014.07.021. [Epub ahead of print]. Cell membrane associated free kappa light chains are found on a subset of tonsil and in…

Supportive care

A Phase IB multicentre dose-determination study of BHQ880 in combination with anti-myeloma therapy and zoledronic acid in patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma and prior skeletal-related events.Iyer SP et al. Br J Haematol. 2014 Aug 19. doi: 10.1111/bjh.13056. [Epub ahead of print].Effect of Clodronate Treatment on Risk of Fracture: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.Frediani…

Complications of myeloma and its treatments

Subclinical Peripheral Neuropathy in Patients With Multiple Myeloma Before Chemotherapy Is Correlated With Decreased Fingertip Innervation Density. Kosturakis AK et al. J Clin Oncol. 2014 Aug 25. pii: JCO.2013.54.5418. [Epub ahead of print]. Hepatitis B virus reactivation in multiple myeloma patients receiving bortezomib-containing regimens followed by autologous stem cell transplantation. Li J et al. Leuk…

Current treatments

Update of the GEM2005 trial comparing VMP/VTP as induction in elderly multiple myeloma patients: do we still need alkylators? Mateos MV et al. Blood. 2014 Aug 7. pii: blood-2014-05-573733. [Epub ahead of print]. Safety and Efficacy of Targeted-Dose Busulfan and Bortezomib as Conditioning Regimen for Patients with Relapsed Multiple Myeloma Undergoing a Second Autologous Blood…

Related conditions

Treatment recommendations for patients with Waldenström’s Macroglobulinemia (WM) and related disorders: consensus from the Seventh International Workshop on WM. Dimopoulos M et al. Blood. 2014 Jul 15. pii: blood-2014-03-565135. [Epub ahead of print]. Immunoglobulin light-chain amyloidosis shares genetic susceptibility with multiple myeloma. Weinhold N et al. Leukemia. 2014 Jul 3. doi: 10.1038/leu.2014.208. [Epub ahead of…

General

European Perspective on Multiple Myeloma Treatment Strategies in 2014. Ludwig H et al. Oncologist. 2014 Jul 25. pii: theoncologist.2014-0042. [Epub ahead of print]. The roles of consolidation and maintenance therapy with novel agents after autologous stem cell transplantation in patients with multiple myeloma. Joks M et al. Eur J Haematol. 2014 Jul 10. doi: 10.1111/ejh.12412.…

Biology and genetics

Proteasome function is required for platelet production. Shi DS et al. J Clin Invest. 2014 Jul 25. pii: 75247. doi: 10.1172/JCI75247. [Epub ahead of print]. Overexpression of CYR61/CCN1 in the multiple myeloma microenvironment is associated with superior survival and prevention of bone disease. Johnson SK et al. Blood. 2014 Jul 24. pii: blood-2014-02-555813. [Epub ahead…