Founded in 1989 by Dr. Bart Barlogie, the Myeloma Center program has grown from a unique initiative focused on multiple myeloma, which, at the time, received only minimal attention and had a dismal survival record, into a high-patient-volume center renowned for excellence in research and patient care and greatly improved survival.
The Myeloma Center was the first to:
- use tandem peripheral blood stem cell transplants (also known as bone marrow transplants)
- perform transplants on an outpatient basis
- safely transplant patients age 70 and above
- introduce thalidomide as anti-angiogenesis therapy
- identify molecular subgroups of myeloma
- develop distinct treatment strategies for high-risk and low-risk myeloma, as defined by gene expression profiling
An enduring hallmark of the Myeloma Center has been a program of well-designed clinical trials that challenge the traditional body of thought on disease treatment in order to improve outcomes. Our long-term follow-up on patients provides a large amount of statistically valid data critical for developing curative therapies.
Facts and Firsts
The Myeloma Center has pioneered novel advances in diagnosing and treating myeloma and related diseases, including Castleman Disease, Waldenstrom Macroglobulinemia, POEMS Syndrome, and Amyloidosis. The following is a list of just some of the breakthroughs and “firsts” at the Myeloma Center.
- 1989 — Introduced Tandem Transplant approach
- 1991 — First outpatient stem cell transplant
- 1993 — Awarded first-ever Program Project grant for myeloma from the National Cancer Institute
- 1995 — Created prediction model for stem cell collection
- 1996 — Discovered “graft versus myeloma” effect in allogeneic transplantation
- 1997 — Introduced Thalidomide as an anti-angiogenesis treatment
- 1998 — First to utilize PET scan for diagnosis and assessment of treatment response
- 1998 — Created SCID-hu mouse model for growing patient myeloma cells
- 1998 — Second total therapy trial (Total Therapy II) opened; 668 patients were enrolled
- 1999 — Lambert Laboratory for Molecular Genetics was established
- 1999 — First to utilize Gene Expression Profiling (GEP) to characterize disease
- 2002 — Identified myeloma genes using GEP and developed gene-based classification of myeloma
- 2004 — Performed 5,000th stem cell transplant
- 2004 — Discovered that the protein coding gene DKK-1 contributes to bone destruction
- 2006 — Identified seven molecular genetic subtypes of myeloma and their bearing on prognosis
- 2007 — Nancy and Stephen Grand Laboratory for Myeloma Proteomics was established
- 2007 — Discovered that expression of 17 specific genes can be used to predict response to therapy
- 2007 — First to use GEP for risk stratification and assignment to therapy
- 2008 — Total Therapy IV and Total Therapy V open
- 2008 — Total Therapy IV is the first clinical trial for low-risk myeloma as defined by GEP
- 2008 — Total Therapy V is the first clinical trial for high-risk myeloma as defined by GEP
- 2009 — Total Therapy VI for previously treated but not transplanted patients opens
- 2009 — Gregory R. Pacheco Lab for Castleman Disease Research was established
- 2009 — Discovered that 14 genes are differently expressed by two subgroups of high-risk myeloma
- 2011 — Expanded Natural Killer Cell treatment protocol for patients with high-risk relapsed myeloma was initiated
- 2011 — 10,000th patient treated
- 2012 — Developed and validated genomic signatures for predicting response to treatment
- 2013 — Updated analyses of Total Therapy I, II and III trials indicate success in using myeloma-effective agents up front to prevent outgrowth of resistant tumor cells that account for relapses
- 2014 — Determined that infusion of large numbers of expanded Natural Killer Cells is feasible and safe
- 2014 — 10+ year follow-up indicates that cure is achievable for patients with low-risk myeloma
- 2015 — Determined that four genes predict high risk of progression from smoldering to active myeloma.