Multiple Myeloma Risk Factors- Abnormal Cytogenics- Arsenic Trioxide- Successfully Treat High-risk, Relapsed, Refractory Multiple Myeloma Patients and Survivors-
Surprisingly enough treating MM patients for the first or second remission is easy. Well, easy may be an over-statement but there is a long and growing list of both conventional (FDA approved) therapies as well as a long list of evidence-based, non-conventional therapies. The real challenge is treating multiple myeloma risk factors. That is to say MM patients with high risk cryogenics.
Evidence-based means that these are not quack therapies. I take or have taken most of them over my 25 plus years of living with MM.
A common conventional induction chemo-cocktail of Revlimid/Velcade/Dexamethasone yields and “impressive response” in newly diagnosed multiple myeloma patients as this study points out.
The real challenge for multiple myeloma patients is when your MM is considered to be high risk meaning you are among the 15% of newly diagnosed MM patient with cryogenic abnormalities.
High-risk MM patients will usually reach remission from their induction therapy however, the remission may not last long and their MM may become resistant to treatment more quickly than the norm.
In my experience, the average oncologist has little if any experience with high-risk MM patients. After all, MM itself if a rare cancer constituting less than 2% of annual cancer diagnoses in the US. Abnormal cryogenics is only about 15% of that.
If you are a relapsed and refractory MM survivor I encourage you to consider evidence-based, non-conventional (not FDA approved) therapies such as Arsenic Trioxide. Please read the study linked below.
As the study linked and excerpted below states, arsenic trioxide inhibits angiogenesis. Combined with other evidence-based foods and supplements that also inhibit angiogenesis, you may achieve a deep, long remission with little collateral damage.
For more information about both conventional and non-conventional therapies for myeloma survivors, scroll down the page, post a question and I will reply ASAP.
thank you,
David Emerson
- MM survivor,
- MM Cancer Coach
- Director PeopleBeatingCancer
Recommended Reading:
“This study aimed to investigate the activity of arsenic trioxide (As2O3) combined with ascorbic acid, ifosfamide, and prednisone chemotherapy in patients with repeatedly relapsed and refractory multiple myeloma (MM).
Here, we retrospectively analyzed medical data of 30 MM patients showing progressive disease after receiving at least two previous lines of treatment including an immunomodulatory agent (thalidomide or lenalidomide) and a proteasome inhibitor. There were 19 men and eleven women, aged 54-73 (median 65) years, in this study. The distribution of different isotypes included immunoglobulin G
- (IgG) (12 patients),
- IgA (six patients),
- IgD (three), and
- light chain (nine patients)
All the patients were Durie-Salmon stage III and had relapsed at least three times; the median cycles of prior therapies was 15 (range 10-18). The patients were treated with As2O3, ascorbic acid, and CP (ifosfamide 1 g on day 1, day 3, day 5, and day 7; prednisone 30 mg taken orally for 2 weeks). As2O3 was administered as an intravenous infusion at a dose of 10 mg/d and ascorbic acid at a dose of 2 g/d for 14 days of each 4-week cycle.
The results showed that after 2 cycles of therapy, there were
- five patients that attained partial response,
- 15 had a minimal response,
- five had no change, and
- five had progressive disease.
The overall response rate was 66.7% (20/30 cases), 50% (10/20 cases), and 40% (2/5 cases), respectively, after 2, 4, and 6 cycles of the therapy. But there were no patients that attained complete remission. The median time of overall survival and progression-free survival were 48 (29-120) and 6 (2-8) months, respectively. The most common treatment-related adverse events included neutropenia, fatigue, anemia, thrombocytopenia, and infection that could be tolerated.
The results showed that As2O3 combined with ascorbic acid, ifosfamide, and prednisone chemotherapy may be a choice treatment for repeatedly relapsed and refractory MM patients.”
Arsenic trioxide: an emerging therapy for multiple myeloma.
“Arsenic trioxide can inhibit proliferation and induce apoptosis in MM cells in vitro and in vivo. In addition to affecting tumor growth, arsenic trioxide has been shown to inhibit angiogenesis, suggesting that it may have significant potency in the treatment of MM.
Based on these observations, the clinical efficacy of arsenic trioxide was evaluated in patients with advanced refractory MM using a fixed-dose intravenous infusion given daily for a maximum of 60 days.
- Nine patients were evaluable. All nine had extensive prior therapy; seven had two or more high-dose chemotherapy cycles with autologous stem cell support.
- All nine patients had cytogenetic abnormalities, and six had chromosome 13 deletions.
Of the four patients who completed more than 30 days of arsenic trioxide infusion, two had >50% reduction in myeloma paraprotein, one had stable disease, and one progressed. Of the five patients with <30 days infusion, two had stable disease and three progressed…”
“Arsenic Trioxide (ATO) has shown remarkable efficacy for the treatment of multiple myeloma (MM)…Our results proved that ATO had a significant dose-dependent and time-dependent inhibitory effect on the expressions of the Notch receptor (Notch1) and Notch ligand (Jag2)…
The results identify ATO as a potential treatment for MM patients…”
