Should Initial Treatment Include Monoclonal Antibo...
Multiple Myeloma
Should Initial Treatment Include Monoclonal Antibodies?
There was significant recent news from multiple myeloma researchers which is raising an important question: should initial treatment include monoclonal antibodies? Currently, the initial treatment does not include monoclonal antibodies. But according to Dr. Sagar Lonial, Chief Medical Officer at the Winship Cancer Institute at Emory University some recent data is “bringing antibodies into the newly diagnosed myeloma setting, and that’s where the excitement is…seeing whether or not that makes the first remission last even longer.” Based on very early data, “the addition of the antibody does improve outcomes. And I think what many of us are waiting on is a little more follow up.”
Monoclonal antibodies work by tagging myeloma cells with a specific marker, called an antibody, which teaches your immune system to target them like they would any other infection. According to Lonial, “The most common antibody used in myeloma is called Daratumumab, and Daratumumab targets a protein called CD-38. And CD-38 is a protein that happens to be found on the surface of almost all myeloma cells. And so the antibody sticks to that protein on the surface and allows the immune system to then come in and try to eliminate that cell.”
Currently, monoclonal antibodies are reserved for patients with relapsed myeloma, or myeloma that has returned following an initial full course of treatment, as a kind of last resort. Dr. Lonial explains, “[Relapsed disease] means you’ve been exposed to one or more or many agents, and they are no longer working. And so antibodies historically have been reserved as what we call salvage treatments.”
This recent evidence, however, shows promise for the use of Daratumumab and other monoclonal antibodies in the initial treatment for newly diagnosed myeloma. Lonial explains, “If we begin to consider what may be on the cusp of changing practice, it’s the addition of…monoclonal antibodies to the initial treatment of a patient with multiple myeloma.”
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There was significant recent news from multiple myeloma researchers which is raising an important question: should initial treatment include monoclonal antibodies? Currently, the initial treatment does not include monoclonal antibodies. But according to Dr. Sagar Lonial, Chief Medical Officer at the Winship Cancer Institute at Emory University some recent data is “bringing antibodies into the newly diagnosed myeloma setting, and that’s where the excitement is…seeing whether or not that makes the first remission last even longer.” Based on very early data, “the addition of the antibody does improve outcomes. And I think what many of us are waiting on is a little more follow up.”
Monoclonal antibodies work by tagging myeloma cells with a specific marker, called an antibody, which teaches your immune system to target them like they would any other infection. According to Lonial, “The most common antibody used in myeloma is called Daratumumab, and Daratumumab targets a protein called CD-38. And CD-38 is a protein that happens to be found on the surface of almost all myeloma cells. And so the antibody sticks to that protein on the surface and allows the immune system to then come in and try to eliminate that cell.”
Currently, monoclonal antibodies are reserved for patients with relapsed myeloma, or myeloma that has returned following an initial full course of treatment, as a kind of last resort. Dr. Lonial explains, “[Relapsed disease] means you’ve been exposed to one or more or many agents, and they are no longer working. And so antibodies historically have been reserved as what we call salvage treatments.”
This recent evidence, however, shows promise for the use of Daratumumab and other monoclonal antibodies in the initial treatment for newly diagnosed myeloma. Lonial explains, “If we begin to consider what may be on the cusp of changing practice, it’s the addition of…monoclonal antibodies to the initial treatment of a patient with multiple myeloma.”
Learn more about SurvivorNet's rigorous medical review process.
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