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“This is the first time a scientific article explicitly discusses the possibility of curing multiple myeloma. These are patients who previously had almost no remaining treatment options.”
By Shula Rosen
Israeli scientists at Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center are participating in a global study that could pave the way for revolutionary multiple myeloma treatment.
The study’s findings, published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, demonstrated a method of immunology that kept one-third of participants in the study cancer-free five years after treatment.
Myeloma is a deadly form of blood cancer that has no known cure, although the study has revealed a pathway that could lead to successful treatment of the disease.
The disease attacks the plasma in the bone marrow, where it spreads and weakens the bones.
Every year, 550 people in Israel and 36,000 in the United States are diagnosed with the disease.
Researchers administered CAR-T cell therapy using the drug Carvykti, which utilizes the patient’s own T-cells and modifies them to fight cancer cells.
The T-cells are removed, treated and reintroduced into the body, where they can destroy malignant cells.
Prof. Yael Cohen, head of the multiple myeloma unit at Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center (Ichilov Hospital), was amazed at the effectiveness of the treatment in the study. “This is the first time a scientific article explicitly discusses the possibility of curing multiple myeloma,” she told Ynet. “These are patients who previously had almost no remaining treatment options.”
According to Cohen, 98% of the patients responded to the therapy; half were cancer-free for three years after the treatment, and one-third remained in remission after five years.
In oncology, remission for five years or more signals a potential cure.
“Seeing such durable responses in patients with aggressive, treatment-resistant myeloma is something we have never seen before,” Cohen said.
Dr. Peter Voorhees of the Atrium Health Levine Cancer Institute in North Carolina, who led the study, discussed the challenges of myeloma, which often becomes resistant to treatment. “This therapy appears to have eradicated every last cancer cell in some patients,” he said. Donate to vital charities that help protect Israeli citizens and inspire millions around the world to support Israel too! Now more than ever, Israel needs your help to fight and win the war -- including on the battlefield of public opinion. Antisemitism, anti-Israel bias and boycotts are out of control. Israel's enemies are inciting terror and violence against innocent Israelis and Jews around the world. Help us fight back!
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