HealthTree Podcast for Multiple Myeloma

Why is a myeloma specialist so important? What does it take to create a new myeloma research center from scratch? William Matsui, MD recently left Johns Hopkins to do just that. Dr. Matsui is the Deputy Director of the new University of Texas Dell Medical School's LIVESTRONG Cancer Institutes myeloma program. Learn what it takes to develop a new myeloma research center and lab and how it helps develop new strategies that could potentially extend lives. Dr. Matsui's unique focus on precursor stem cells, allo transplant approaches and immunotherapy in myeloma care will also be discussed.  William Matsui, MD is Deputy Director of the LIVESTRONG Cancer Institutes at Dell Medical School. He specializes in caring for patients with cancers that involve the blood and bone marrow as well as bone marrow transplantation. Matsui came to Austin from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, where he was a professor of oncology and served as the director of the Multiple Myeloma Program and the co-director of the Division of Hematologic Malignancies. Matsui received his undergraduate degree in biochemistry from Harvard College and his medical degree from the University of California at San Francisco. He completed his residency training in internal medicine at the University of Washington in Seattle and his clinical training in medical oncology at Johns Hopkins. Thanks to our episode sponsor, Celgene.

A new treatment called Selinexor was recently approved for highly relapsed multiple myeloma patients. Learn how experts like Dr. Paul Richardson of the Dana Farber Cancer Institute are using this new drug in their myeloma practice. Dr. Richardson will share how the drug works, when and how it should be used, potential side effects to watch out for and manage and why the new option is adding to patients' treatment choices.  Paul Richardson, MD is RJ Corman Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and Attending Physician in the Division of Heamatologic Oncology in the Multiple Myeloma and Bone Marrow Transplant Service at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute. Dr. Richardson is the Clinical Program Leader and Director of Clinical Research for The Jerome Lipper Multiple Myeloma Center at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Thank you to our episode sponsor, GlaxoSmithKlein.

Immunotherapy is a major class of therapy that continues to expand in the myeloma clinic. Dr. Alexander Leshokin of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center explains the various types of immunotherapies: transplant, monoclonal antibodies, bi-specific antibodies, antibody drug conjugates, cellular therapies like CAR T, vaccines and where each type of treatment is at in the various stages of development.  Dr, Alexander Lesokhin is Assistant Attending Physician at Memorial Hospital for Cancer and Allied Diseases and Assistant Member of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. He is an active member of ASCO and ASH and has oversight of fellows and residents in the transplant, lymphoma and myeloma units. Dr. Lesokhin performs significant immunotherapy research and is engaged in studies to perform work in the lab that will bridge to the clinic as to why cancer cells can evade the bone marrow derived tumor-infiltrating cells. He is also performing research on checkpoint inhibitors and why T cells get exhausted, particularly following stem cell transplant.  Thanks to our episode sponsor, Celgene.

STEP therapy is an approach in managed medical care to minimize costs of prescription drugs. The program allows patients to begin therapy with the most cost-effective drugs and work their way up to more costly therapies only if necessary. It is also called "step protocol" or "fail first" and is a type of prior authorization requirement. Upward trends for prescription medications in the United States has led to an increased pressure on health care providers to keep medication costs down while maintaining drug availability. The cost controlling measures could impact cancer therapies for all patients, but it may be a particular challenge for myeloma patients who tend to used combination therapies in a serial fashion. Learn more about this and other issues about cost in myeloma care with Dr. Rafael Fonseca, Chair the Mayo Clinic Scottsdale program.  Dr. Rafael Fonseca is the Chair of the Department of Internal Medicine and Professor of Medicine at the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale. He is also Getz Family Professor of Cancer in Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science in the Department of Education Administration. He is a Distinguished Mayo Investigator since 2010 and is also a Consultant in the Divisions of Hematology/Oncology and Basic Sciences Research Laboratories at the Mayo Clinic. Dr. Fonseca is an Editorial Board Member for the publication Genes, Chromosomes and Cancer. Dr. Fonseca is also on the Mayo Clinic Arizona Executive Operations Team  and Editorial Board.

CAR T therapy is becoming a hot area of early clinical trials for multiple myeloma patients, but most are personally customized for each patient. A company called Cellectis has developed an off-the-shelf CAR T that every patient can use. Instead of being an "autologous" CAR T treatment (where you use your own cells), this is also called an "allogeneic" CAR T, or a "donor"CAR T. Many of the current CAR T therapies are going after a target called b-cell maturation antigen (BCMA). This It is going after a different target called CS1/SLAMF7. Learn more about this new treatment (called UCARTCS1) from David Siegel, MD, PhD of Hackensack University / John Theurer Cancer Center and how it will be used in early myeloma clinical trials.  Thanks to our episode sponsor: Celgene Corporation

A new clinical trial is open combining low dose melphalan, a drug commonly used at high doses for stem cell transplant, and high dose intravenous Vitamin C. Learn more about how these two treatments work synergistically and why they have been combined in a clinical trial at the University of Iowa. The University of Iowa has unique experience with IV Vitamin C and Dr. Yogesh Jethava joins Myeloma Crowd Radio to share this fascinating open study now enrolling patients.  Dr. Yogesh Jethava is Associate Professor and Director of the Multiple Myeloma program as well as Associate Director of the Blood and Marrow Program at the University of Iowa. Prior to this appointment, he was director of the Bone Marrow and Stem Cell Transplant Services Division of Hematology Oncology at the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute at University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences or UAMS where he established the first fully functional allo transplant unit. There, he was Director and Attending Physician for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Subspecialty Clinic.   Dr. Jethava is an International Myeloma Working Group member and part of the EMBT malignancy working group and is a member of the Experimental Therapeutics groups and others. He reviews abstracts for publications like blood leukemia in the Blood Cancer Journal, and he is also working on studies that involves high dose vitamin C infusions for plasma cell disorders like myeloma.

A new monoclonal antibody called Isatuximab is advancing through clinical trials and is getting closer to FDA approval. This antibody targets CD38. Learn more from Dr. Ravi Vij of Washington University as he discusses the findings from recent clinical trials, how this drug will be used in the clinc and how it is different from other monoclonal antibodies previously approved. Dr. Vij was the senior author on the first Isatuximab paper published in Blood and has been involved in several clinical trials to date.  Dr. Ravi Vij is Associate Professor of Medicine at the Washington School of Medicine in the Bone Marrow Transplant section. He received his medical degree in India and did follow-up training and residency at Rush-Presbyterian St. Luke’s Medical Center in Chicago and fellowships in Oncology and Bone Marrow Transplantation with Stem Cell Biology at Washington University. He’s a member of ASCO, ASH, the St. Louis Society of Clinical Oncology, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He serves on numerous national committees including the Myeloma, Transplant, Leukemia Committees of the Alliance for Clinical Trials in Oncology and the Steering Committee of the MMRC. His honors include the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation Innovator Award in 2013 and the MMRC Center of Excellence Award. He’s the author of over 100 peer-reviewed publications, as well as a book called Contemporary Management of Multiple Myeloma, and several book chapters. He served as a reviewer for several journals, including Blood, Journal of Clinical Oncology, Bone Marrow Transplantation, Experimental Hematology, and Haematologica.

Major progress is being made in the field of multiple myeloma including a vast array of immunotherapy options. Learn about key findings from the recent ASH conference in addition to what we can look forward to in the coming year. Listen to myeloma expert Robert Z. Orlowski, MD, PhD of the MD Anderson Cancer Center as he reviews the up-and-coming choices for the clinic and those new treatments in clinical trials. Dr. Orlowski is Director of the Myeloma Section, Department of Lymphoma and Myeloma at MD Anderson Cancer Center. Dr. Orlowski serves as Chair of the Southwest Oncology Group (SWOG) and is a member of the NCI Steering Committee, the Multiple Myeloma Tissue Bank Steering Committee, the Computerized Provider Order Entry Steering Committee, BMT Committee, and American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. Dr. Orlowski is on the Editorial Board of Hematology and the Journal of Clinical Oncology. Dr. Orlowski has received many awards over a number of years including the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society Scholar in Clinical Research, the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s Man of the Year Award, Emil Frei III Award for Excellence in Translational Research from MD Anderson and has received a SPORE grant from the NIH. Find news and information from his daily newspaper, Myeloma Daily or find him on Twitter at @myeloma_doc. Thanks to our episode sponsor, Takeda Oncology

Testing Your Individual Myeloma Tumor Against Available Myeloma Therapies Each myeloma patient's tumor is unique and can change over time. Dr. Rodriguez is using a new 3D organoid tumor modeling platform which allows the testing of over 50 myeloma treatment combinations against your specific tumor (including your bone marrow microenvironment) to identify which treatments will work best for your type of myeloma. This personalized approach will help you find useful drug combinations that will have the most impact and avoid treatments that will be ineffective. Learn more in this fascinating show.  Thanks to our episode sponsor: Takeda Oncology

Targeting CD24 to Eliminate Myeloma Stem Cells Myeloma stem cells (or early progenitor cells before they become plasma cells) may not be killed with current myeloma therapies and could be the cause of relapse. Dr. Zhan has identified the presence of CD24 as a strong candidate as a cancer stem cell marker and believes that high CD24 levels lead to more aggressive myeloma and earlier death. His work will test patient samples for the presence of CD24 and assess outcomes while also identifying CD24 monoclonal antibodies that could impact this target. Learn more from Dr. Zhan and Dr. Yogesh Jethava of the University of Iowa in this Myeloma Crowd Research Initiative show. Donate to the MCRI here: give.crowdcare.org/mcri Thanks to our episode sponsor, Celgene Corporation.