Monoclonal antibodies: potential new therapeutic treatment against multiple myeloma

Despite recent treatments, such as bortezomib, thalidomide, and lenalidomide, therapy of multiple myeloma ( MM ) is limited, and MM remains an incurable disease associated with high mortality. The outcome of patients treated with cytotoxic therapy has not been satisfactory. Therefore, new therapies are needed for relapsed MM . A new anticancer strategy is the use of monoclonal antibodies ( M o A bs) that represent the best available combination of tumor cytotoxicity, environmental signal privation, and immune system redirection. Clinical results in patients with relapsed/refractory MM suggest that M o A bs are likely to operate synergistically with traditional therapies (dexamethasone), immune modulators (thalidomide, lenalidomide), and other novel therapies (bortezomib); in addition, M o A bs have shown the ability to overcome resistance to these therapies. It remains to be defined how M o A b therapy can most fruitfully be incorporated into the current therapeutic paradigms that have achieved significant survival earnings in patients with MM . This will require careful consideration of the optimal sequence of treatments and their clinical position as either short‐term induction therapy, frontline therapy in patients ineligible for ASCT , or long‐term maintenance treatment.