Cure -- Word for the Day -- Tuesday, November 3, 2009

CURE

Definition: recovery or relief from a disease; something (as a drug or treatment) that cures a disease; a course or period of treatment; a complete or permanent solution or remedy

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UAMS myeloma program gets cash

LITTLE ROCK — The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences’ myeloma program is getting $19.5 million in federal research money over the next five years to continue its research into the causes of the cancer and develop new treatments.

This is the fourth time the UAMS Myeloma Institute for Research and Therapy has gotten the five-year grant from the National Cancer Institute, part of the National Institutes of Health.

The last grant, for $17.9 million, was awarded in 2004 and ended in June. The institute competes with research programs around the country for the funding.

“It’s very highly competitive,” said Dr. Elias Anaissie, professor of medicine in the UAMS College of Medicine and director of supportive care at the Myeloma Institute.

Myeloma is a cancer of the plasma cells, a type of white blood cell most commonly found in bone marrow. Myeloma affects a person’s ability to form new bone tissue.

Seventy-five percent of patients diagnosed with the cancer have symptoms such as bone pain in the back, pelvis, skull and long bones such as the thigh bone.

Ongoing research at the Little Rock institute examines development and progress of the disease and new individualized treatments.

“This grant enables us to focus all efforts toward the common goal of controlling and defeating multiple myeloma,” institute Director Dr. Bart Barlogie, a UAMS professor of medicine and pathology, said in a statement.

The American Cancer Society estimates that 20,580 new cases of multiple myeloma will be diagnosed this year, including 11,680 men and 8,900 women. An estimated 10,580 Americans died of the disease last year.

The Myeloma Institute, founded in 1989 by Barlogie, is part of the UAMS Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute.

Since then, it has grown into one of the world’s largest centers for treatment and research into the disease, attracting patients from around the globe, Anaissie said. More than 2,250 patients are treated there each year.

Institute researchers have developed new treatment methods that they say are showing positive results. The median survival rate of patients at the institute is eight years, according to a UAMS news releaseWednesday. By comparison, the median survival rate of myeloma patients nationwide is about four years.

The five-year survival rate of patients at the UAMS institute is about 65 percent, compared with a 34 percent five-year survival rate nationwide, the institute says.

One study at the center, called Total Therapy 4, looks at tailoring treatment to patients based on the aggressiveness of their cancers.

UAMS researchers look at patients’ molecular genetics and categorize them as low-risk or high-risk depending on how quickly the cancer spreads and how well they’re predicted to respond to treatment.

“We basically do a riskadjusted treatment strategy,” Anaissie said.

Some patients are given smaller doses of chemotherapy but at more frequent intervals to reduce side effects while maintaining the treatment’s effectiveness.

“We’re looking at can we possibly achieve the same results but cut down the toxicity,” he said.

In a new study, researchers are examining whether a type of cell called a “natural killer cell” can be transplanted from a healthy person to a myeloma patient to help kill tumor cells.

Other studies are looking at the genetics of the disease and how myeloma cells grow and interact with other cells. Such data would give researchers valuable information that could lead to new treatments, Anaissie said.

“The overall theme is to try to understand the growth of multiple myeloma and the interaction of these cells within the environment in which they operate,” he said.