The standard treatments for multiple myeloma, a cancer that forms in the plasma cells, include biological therapy, radiation therapy, corticosteroids, targeted therapy, chemotherapy, and even a bone marrow transplant. In the case of deciding whether a person with multiple myeloma may require a bone marrow transplant, a doctor will check factors such as how far the disease may progress and one’s age and overall health. If one is considered as a good candidate for the transplant, the treatment plan will include targeted therapy, biological therapy, and even corticosteroids.

Sometimes, chemotherapy might also be recommended. The doctor may then wait to see if the condition relapses before going in for a bone marrow transplant. After the transplant, biological and targeted therapy is generally used to prevent a relapse. Some patients may not be considered as good candidates for a bone marrow transplant because of certain reasons. As such, their treatment will mainly include chemotherapy along with corticosteroids and biological or targeted therapies. In some cases, if the treatment has no effect, the doctor may make some changes to the treatment path. If standard treatments don’t work, the doctor may talk to the patient with multiple myeloma about experimental treatments and may consider them for clinical trials.

All types of cancer treatments available today are the result of clinical trials conducted in the past. These trials help in understanding the biology of the disease. The following are some of the emerging therapies that can help in managing multiple myeloma:

1. CAR T-cell therapy
CAR T-cell stands for chimeric antigen receptor T-cell and the process involves using some immune cells from the patient themselves to recognize certain antigens in order to target the cancer cells. These reorganized cells are grown in a lab and then infused into the patient’s body where they help fight cancer cells. Their effectiveness is still being determined in treating multiple myeloma but the results are promising so far from patients with other types of cancers.

2. Transduced T-cell receptors and vaccines
This is also an experimental approach on the T-cells using transduced T-cell receptors. The T-cell receptor makes the immune system recognize a particular tumor antigen. Vaccines are also being developed which contain cancer cells or proteins in the cancer cells. This allows the body to act against the cancer proteins that are present in the vaccine and also stimulate the T-cells to kill foreign cells as well as ones with the tumor that are present inside the body.

3. Other therapies
Several other proteasome inhibitors, or PIs, and immunomodulatory drugs, or IMiDs, are also being researched. Some molecularly targeted therapies are trying to target certain proteins that are found in the cancer cells. They aim to stop the interaction between MDM2 and the tumor suppressor p53 in patients who have an abnormality known as 17p deletion.