Dendritic Cell Therapy for Multiple Myeloma Patients – Nebraska Medicine

Immune therapy has emerged as a leading area of cancer therapeutics due to its potential to recruit multiple immune components to broadly target cancer cells and overcome mechanisms of resistance. Multiple myeloma, like many other cancers, is associated with immune suppression and dysfunction, including defects in key processes responsible for adequate immune defense against cancer growth and its progression. This clinical trial involves development of personalized therapy in which patient-derived myeloma cells are fused with patient’s dendritic (immune) cells, such that a broad array of myeloma signals are presented to the immune system for destruction. Early phase studies in patients showed that this type of therapy resulted in ten-fold expansion of myeloma-specific T-cells that lead this fight. Delivery of this therapy after autologous stem cell transplant was found to be associated with potent immune response, and conversion from partial response to complete response in a subset of patients. The presence of late responses several months after transplantation is consistent with an impact of this therapy on post-transplant residual disease. To schedule an appointment with a multiple myeloma specialist at Nebraska Medicine, call 800.922.0000.