Understanding Immunotherapy and Multiple Myeloma

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The use of immunotherapy has made major headway when it comes to treating several types of cancer, and that includes cancers of the blood. Multiple myeloma is a cancer that forms in a type of white blood cell called a plasma cell. There are several treatments available for people who have multiple myeloma, and doctors who treat the disease are really excited about the possibilities that immunotherapy presents.

“We’re using new techniques like immunotherapy to get at the myeloma in a way that hasn’t already been gotten to,” says Dr. Nina Shah, a hematologist at UCSF Medical Center. “We now have drugs that use the immune system to make myeloma go away. One of the ones that’s really exciting is something called a CAR-T cell.”

A T-cell is a cell that’s responsible for killing viruses and some bacteria. When people have cancer, a lot of times the T-cells don’t function properly. CAR-T therapy involves reprogramming the T-cells, and getting them to attack cancer cells.

“These [reprogrammed] T-cells can actually kill myeloma, so much so, that people who may have had their bone marrow packed with myeloma actually are able to see the bone marrow clean of myeloma,” Dr. Shah says.

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Dr. Nina Shah is a hematologist who specializes in the treatment of multiple myeloma, a type of cancer affecting the blood marrow. She treats patients at the Hematology and Blood and Marrow Transplant Clinic. Read More

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If you’ve had at least four treatments that have not worked or stopped working you might be a candidate for a treatment called CAR T Therapy.

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CAR-T Therapy for Multiple Myeloma

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