SY15-2 - Advances in therapeutic approaches for multiple myeloma

Abstract

Multiple myeloma (MM) is an incurable hematological malignancy that mainly occurs in the elderly. With the use of proteasome inhibitors (PIs) and immunomodulatory drugs (IMIDs), treatment outcomes have dramatically improved compared to those of the last decade. In addition, next-generation PIs and IMIDs, monoclonal antibodies, histone deacetylase inhibitors, and more recently, checkpoint inhibitors and chimeric antigen receptor T cells have been developed and introduced in the clinical setting. Reflecting the impact of these novel agents, current clinical data show continued improvements in survival for patients with MM. Reasons for these improved outcomes include advancing elucidation of the molecular basis to the onset and clonal evolution of MM, as well as intent to eradicate minimal residual disease with stronger targeted agents alone or with combinations of these new drugs. We have investigated proliferation signals for myeloma cells with a view to developing specific inhibitors. In this symposium, recent clinical advances in therapeutic approaches to MM using novel drugs, and our investigational results, will be presented.