Recently Diagnosed or Relapsed? Stop Looking For a Miracle Cure, and Use Evidence-Based Therapies To Enhance Your Treatment and Prolong Your Remission
Multiple Myeloma an incurable disease, but I have spent the last 25 years in remission using a blend of conventional oncology and evidence-based nutrition, supplementation, and lifestyle therapies from peer-reviewed studies that your oncologist probably hasn't told you about.
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What is the newest Multiple Myeloma Therapy?
” It’s still experimental (CAR-T Cell Therapy), but you may get a chance to join a clinical trial if your other treatments aren’t working…
David, Thanks for getting back to me. Do you know anything about CAR-T? It’s hard for me to just sit back and let my life slip away without trying to find another treatment. I know MM is incurable/terminal, but still I will be a fighter till the end. Willing to try the newest multiple myeloma therapy. What do I have to loose at this point? Rick
Hi Rick,
I know a fair amount about CAR-T cell therapy. I comment and then link studies below.
First off, let me be clear. Undergoing a conventional MM therapy such as Kyprolis/carfilzomib and combining it with therapies to reduce the risk of heart damage as well as combining with evidence-based integrative therapies is not “sitting back and letting your life slip away.”
My point is that kyprolis can cause heart damage and should be taken with caution. Integrative therapies can do this.
As for CAR-T cell therapy-
Based on my reading of studies, anecdotal evidence from a couple of MM CC clients, CAR-T cell therapy has real potential as a MM therapy especially for those MM survivors who, like yourself, have tried several other therapies.
The challenge is that CAR T is still experimental. There are clinical trials that you may be able to enter (see the link below) but as with any and all experimental therapies, there is real risk.
Further, my read is that CAR T therapy will be extremely expensive if and when it is available in oncology offices. On the order of $400, 000 give or take.
Lastly, CAR T therapy can result in serious side effects. MM survivors have been beaten up after they complete several other chemo regimens (as you know…).
This is my own thinking, but I do think that CAR T therapy will be available but with a year or two, I think.
If you are adamant, try a clinical trial. If not, consider Kyprolis with integrative therapies.
Let me know if you have any questions.
Hang in there,
David Emerson
- MM Survivor
- MM Cancer Coach
- Director PeopleBeatingCancer
Recommended Reading:
- Long-Term Multiple Myeloma Survivor- If I Knew Then What I Know Now
- Multiple Myeloma Side Effects- Learn, Anticipate, Prevent
- Multiple Myeloma Chemotherapy- Heart Damage Increases Over Time
CAR T-Cell Therapy for Multiple Myeloma
” It’s still experimental, but you may get a chance to join a clinical trial if your other treatments aren’t working…
How Well Does It Work?
Clinical trials for multiple myeloma so far have been small, but promising. One One U.S. study of a CAR T-cell therapy included 21 people who had already tried an average of seven other treatments. Eighteen of them got a higher dose of the treatment. About 56% of those 18 people had complete remissions, meaning there was no longer any sign of their cancer.
A Chinese study included 35 people with multiple myeloma. About 94% showed signs of remission after CAR T-cell therapy…
Right now there are more than 20 clinical trials in various stages across the U.S. To learn more about them, visit the U.S. National Library of Medicine’s Clinical Trials.gov site…
Side Effects and Risks
One of the most common side effects from CAR T-cell therapy is called cytokine release syndrome (CRS). It’s an immune response that’s triggered by a flood of immune system chemicals called cytokines into your body.
CRS causes symptoms like:
- Fast heartbeat
- Low blood pressure
- Trouble breathing
- Fever
- Nausea
- Chills
- Rash
These symptoms usually start within a few days after your treatment and get better over time.
Most of the people in CAR T-cell studies for multiple myeloma got CRS, but their symptoms were mild. Doctors can quiet the immune system’s response and treat CRS with the drug tocilizumab(Actemra).
Kyprolis aka Carfilzomib
“Herein, we investigated if combination of curcumin with carfilzomib (CFZ) can induce a better cytotoxic effect on in vitro cultured U266 cells. Cell viability data showed that curcumin significantly ameliorates CFZ cytotoxic effect. Furthermore, curcumin alone did not affect proteasome at the tested dose, confirming the involvement of different mechanisms in the observed effects. U266 cells exposure to curcumin or CFZ increased reactive species (RS) levels, although their production did not appear further potentiated following drugs combination…”
Resveratrol Sensitizes Carfilzomib-Induced Apoptosis via Promoting Oxidative Stress in Multiple Myeloma Cells
“Here, we demonstrated that a natural compound, resveratrol (RSV) displayed anti-proliferative activity in a dose- and time-dependent manner in a panel of MM cell lines. More importantly, a low concentration of RSV was synergistic with a low dose of the proteasome inhibitor carfilzomib (CFZ) to induce apoptosis in myeloma cells….”
Cannabinoids synergize with carfilzomib, reducing multiple myeloma cells viability and migration
“Furthermore, since the immuno-proteasome is considered a new target in MM and also since carfilzomib (CFZ) is a new promising immuno-proteasome inhibitor that creates irreversible adducts with the β5i subunit of immuno-proteasome, we evaluated the effect of CBD and THC in regulating the expression of the β5i subunit and their effect in combination with CFZ…”