Update on the viral connection to myeloma

Discussion part, perhaps this could be feasible in the early stages of the “chronic underlying infection”…But they also add that it might even be effective in later stages of MM. Boy, that would really be something, wouldn’t it? Here are some excerpts from the Discussion (my highlights): “Overall, our findings imply that chronic stimulation by infectious Ag may promote MGUS and MM in certain patient subsets. Importantly, some of the identified infectious pathogens (HSV, HCV, H. pylori) can be effectively treated. This observation has obvious clinical consequences, since the detection of MGUS or SM patients with an mc IgG specific for a treatable pathogen would allow the proposal of antiviral or antibiotic treatment for patients. If an underlying chronic infection were cleared early enough in disease progression, it could perhaps offer the tantalizing possibility to prevent MGUS transition towards SM and overt MM for the first time. In such cases, addition of antiviral or antibiotic treatment to current protocols might indeed induce disease regression and/or improve response to standard treatments, as reported for interferon-? treatment in HCV-associated MM.” Hmmm, they say that “some of the identified infectious pathogens […] can be effectively treated,” but they don’t list EBV. Have to check on that one… Okay, I’m stopping here for today. This is just the first part of a series of posts that I intend to write on this topic. I...
Source: Margaret's Corner - Category: Cancer & Oncology Authors: Tags: Blogroll myeloma viral connection to myeloma virus Source Type: blogs