MMRF and LLS Fund $500,000 In Cancer Stem Cell Research

The Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation (MMRF) and the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) have partnered to award William Matsui, MD, Johns Hopkins University, and Irving Weissman, MD, Stanford University, research grants totaling $500,000 to study the multiple myeloma cancer stem cell. Each individual grant is valued at $250,000.

These grants, developed in response to input from leading cancer stem cell experts who participated in the 2008 MMRF Myeloma Cancer Stem Cell Research Roundtable, provide an unprecedented opportunity to apply existing knowledge of cancer stem cells to multiple myeloma.

Ultimately, the identification and characterization of the multiple myeloma cancer stem cell will advance our understanding of drug resistance and relapse in patients with multiple myeloma and potentially lead to the development of targeted therapies that effectively treat the disease. Many researchers believe that cancer stem cells, although few in number, are responsible for cancer's development, metastases, and recurrence.

About Multiple Myeloma: Multiple myeloma is an incurable cancer of the plasma cell. The five-year relative survival rate for multiple myeloma is approximately 35%, one of the lowest of all cancers. In 2008, an estimated 19,920 adults (11,190 men and 8,730 women) in the United States were diagnosed with multiple myeloma and an estimated 10,690 people died from the disease.