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Myeloma Research Update

ADAPTING AND OVERCOMING

Despite the challenges of the pandemic, the IU team never lost focus on our goals to better prevent, detect and treat multiple myeloma. Our physicians and scientists remained steadfast, proving we could join our patients to adapt and overcome. Today, our research laboratories are all back up and running, our clinical trials remain robust and our commitment to the highest quality of patient care is paramount. Crucial support from donors like you ensured we had the resources–even in uncertain times–to continue our mission.

Recent Breakthroughs

COMMITMENT TO COMMUNITY

Rafat Abonour, MD, the Harry and Edith Gladstein Professor of Cancer Research, is committed to a cure for multiple myeloma, but first says we need to “do better.” We must do better diagnosing myeloma, understanding how the disease behaves and improving outcomes for patients. To this end, Abonour and Mohammad Abu Zaid, MD are encouraging every patient living or treated in Indiana who has myeloma or its nonmalignant preconditions to participate in the Indiana Myeloma Registry—a tool that will document a comprehensive history of each patient’s myeloma journey. Participants will be mailed an at-home saliva kit and asked to complete medical questionnaires.

The registry will allow researchers to study the influence of risk factors on myeloma including race, weight, geographic location and environmental factors. Since we know that Black Americans have a greater-than-average risk of developing myeloma, IU researchers are also working to address racial disparities that exist across all stages of the disease–from screening and prevention to diagnosis and care. Data from the current state database and participation by Black patients in the Indiana Myeloma Registry will allow the team to better develop targeted therapies for each individual patient.

Participants of all races are needed. To learn more and enroll, visit: https://www.cancer.iu.edu/myelomaregistry/

The Indiana Myeloma Registry is funded in part by support from Miles for Myeloma, the Harry and Edith Gladstein Chair and the Omar Barham Fighting Cancer Fund.

BACK TO BASICS: LABORATORY RESEARCH

IU scientist Brian Walker, PhD, the Daniel and Lori Efroymson Professor of Oncology, studies DNA and abnormal plasma cell samples in smoldering multiple myeloma (SMM) patients. His aim is to determine if research can identify markers that will indicate who is at a higher risk of progressing to multiple myeloma. Patients with SMM have abnormal plasma cells in their bone marrow, but they don’t have any of the criteria or symptoms that define myeloma. Data samples from SMM patients in consecutive years have shown abnormal plasma cells competing with one another until a high-risk cell takes over. It suggests that, over time, the patient could progress to myeloma. If SMM patients can get biopsies more often, they can be better monitored for these markers that can guide clinical decisions.

Determining what cellular abnormalities drive the disease forward will allow IU’s myeloma research team to develop targets that may reverse or slow disease progression. IU physician-scientist Fabiana Perna, MD, PhD, investigates the cancer cell surface to develop new immunotherapies for myeloma. Earlier this year, she was awarded grants from the IU School of Medicine and the Leukemia Research Foundation for her continued work focused on the molecular underpinnings of cancer development and how they may lead to the development of therapies based on the immune system.

CLINICAL SUCCESSES

Sherif Farag, MD, PhD, the Lawrence H. Einhorn Professor of Oncology, published promising findings in January 2021 in the New England Journal of Medicine. He found that using a drug approved for Type 2 diabetes reduces the risk of one of the most serious complications of blood stem cell transplantation--acute graft-versus-host disease (GVHD). GVHD occurs in more than 30 percent of patients and can lead to severe side effects and potentially fatal results. Farag’s findings offer a relatively inexpensive and accessible approach to preventing GVHD.

IU clinical trials make a huge impact on progress for patients. In April 2020, the FDA Oncology Drug Advisory Committee unanimously approved a new antibody therapy for patients with relapsed myeloma. Attaya Suvannasankha, MD, the Carol Edwards Associate Professor of Clinical Medicine, served as the principle Investigator of the trial. “Patient data was a critical component of getting this new drug approved,” she said. “Thanks to the clinical trial, IU patients had access to this drug more than a year before it became more broadly available.”

G. David Roodman, MD, PhD, Distinguished Professor at IU School of Medicine, is investigating a molecule that could repair bone, decrease tumors and improve outcomes for multiple myeloma patients on specific targeted therapies. In May 2020, he received a $1.6 million grant from the National Cancer Institute to continue his work. Up to 85 percent of patients experience bone disease associated with multiple myeloma, which can cause devastating fractures and impact survival.

Miles for Myeloma is an annual event created to help fund myeloma research at IU and patient care at IU Health.

Support for this event comes largely from volunteers–friends and family of patients, as well as patients themselves. To get involved, contact Ashleigh Wahl at 317-278-5313 or awahl2@iu.edu.

Philanthropic support is key to our ongoing efforts to improve outcomes for every myeloma patient. To learn more about making a gift of cash or stock or to support our work through your estate plan, contact Amber Kleopfer Senseny, Director of Development, at 317-278-4510 or akleopfe@iu.edu.