Offering a framework
The potential of this approach extends to a broad array of cancers, including some forms of breast cancer (see related story, Researchers evesdrops on 'molecular dialogue' in breast cancer). But myeloma is where this work has first gained traction. Anderson and his colleagues — including Teru Hideshima, MD, PhD, Dharminder Chauhan, JD, PhD, and Constantine Mitsiades, MD, PhD, who conduct laboratory studies, and Paul Richardson, MD, who leads clinical trials of novel agents — are at the forefront of the effort.
"Because it's a cancer of the bone marrow, we can readily study marrow to learn about the interactions between normal cells and tumor cells, and develop models of how the disease progresses," says Anderson. "In many ways, multiple myeloma offers a framework for studying the microenvironment's influence in all kinds of cancers, and for identifying ways of overcoming the problem of drug resistance."
Ultimately, microenvironmental research may lead to combinations of therapies that interfere with different aspects of cancer cells' life cycle and external support system. "Childhood leukemia, Hodgkin's lymphoma, and testicular cancer were all cured with combination chemotherapy," Anderson continues. "Today, we can use gene, protein, and signaling studies to develop drug combinations that kill a larger number of cancer cells at lower doses, and produce fewer complications."
