Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2020 Nov 30;12(12):3576.
doi: 10.3390/cancers12123576.

Recent Advances in the Treatment of Patients with Multiple Myeloma

Mario A Legarda  1 , María J Cejalvo  1 , Javier de la Rubia  1   2
Affiliations
Review

Recent Advances in the Treatment of Patients with Multiple Myeloma

Mario A Legarda et al. Cancers (Basel). .

Abstract

In the past 20 years, few diseases have seen as great progress in their treatment as multiple myeloma. With the approval of many new drugs and the limited availability of clinical trials comparing head-to-head the different possible combinations, the choice of the best treatments at each stage of the disease becomes complex as well as crucial since multiple myeloma remains incurable. This article presents a general description of the novelties of the whole treatment of multiple myeloma, from induction in the newly diagnosed patient through the role of hematopoietic stem cell transplantation and maintenance treatment until early and late relapses, including a section on recently approved drugs as well as novel drugs and immunotherapy in advanced stages of research, and that will surely play a relevant role in the treatment of this devastating disease in the coming years.

Keywords: autologous stem cell transplantation; car-t cells; consolidation; early relapse; immunotherapy; late relapse; maintenance; multiple myeloma; novel drugs; relapsed refractory multiple myeloma.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

J. de la Rubia: Personal fees from AMGEN, personal fees from BMS, personal fees from Janssen, personal fees from Takeda, personal fees from GSK. Other authors declare no conflict of interest. The funders had no role in the design of the study, in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript, or in the decision to publish the results.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Suggested treatment options for newly diagnosed multiple myeloma (MM) patients. * Consider tandem ASCT in eligible high-risk patients. Abbreviations: ASCT: Autologous stem cell transplant; Dara: Daratumumab; VTd: Bortezomib, thalidomide, dexamethasone; VRd: Bortezomib, lenalidomide, dexamethasone; VCd: Bortezomib, cyclophosphamide, dexamethasone; VMP: Bortezomib, melphalan, prednisone; Rd: Lenalidomide, dexamethasone.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Suggested algorithm to treat patients with RRMM and 1−3 prior lines of therapy. Abbreviations: DRd: Daratumumab, lenalidomide, dexamethasone; KRd: Carfilzomib, lenalidomide, dexamethasone; ERd: Elotuzumab, lenalidomide, dexamethasone; IxaRd: Ixazomib, lenalidomide, dexamethasone; DVd: daratumumab, bortezomib, dexamethasone; Rd: Lenalidomide, dexamethasone; Kd: Carfilzomib, dexamethasone; IsaKd: Isatuximab, carfilzomib, dexamethasone; DKd: Daratumumab, carfilzomib, dexamethasone; PVd: Pomalidomide, bortezomib, dexamethasone; Pd: Pomalidomide, dexamethasone; SelVd: Selinexor, bortezomib, dexamethasone; ASCT: Autologous stem cell transplant.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Suggested treatment options for RRMM patients in advanced phases of the disease (>3 lines of therapy). Abbreviations: IsaPd: Isatuximab, pomalidomide, dexamethasone; EloPd: Elotuzumab, pomalidomide, dexamethasone; DPd: Daratumumab, pomalidomide, dexamethasone; PFS, progression-free survival.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Rajkumar S.V., Dimopoulos M.A., Palumbo A., Blade J., Merlini G., Mateos M.-V., Kumar S., Hillengass J., Kastritis E., Richardson P., et al. International Myeloma Working Group updated criteria for the diagnosis of multiple myeloma. Lancet Oncol. 2014;15:e538–e548. doi: 10.1016/S1470-2045(14)70442-5. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Röllig C., Knop S., Bornhäuser M. Multiple myeloma. Lancet Lond. Engl. 2015;385:2197–2208. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(14)60493-1. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Siegel R.L., Miller K.D., Jemal A. Cancer statistics, 2020. CA Cancer J. Clin. 2020;70:7–30. doi: 10.3322/caac.21590. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Ferlay J., Colombet M., Soerjomataram I., Dyba T., Randi G., Bettio M., Gavin A., Visser O., Bray F. Cancer incidence and mortality patterns in Europe: Estimates for 40 countries and 25 major cancers in 2018. Eur. J. Cancer Oxf. Engl. 1990. 2018;103:356–387. doi: 10.1016/j.ejca.2018.07.005. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Moreau P., Touzeau C., Vij R., Goldsmith S.R., Rosko A.E. Newly Diagnosed Myeloma in 2020. Am. Soc. Clin. Oncol. Educ. Book. 2020;40:e144–e158. doi: 10.1200/EDBK_280221. - DOI - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources