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MMSupport.net unveils “Ask the Expert”, featuring Multiple Myeloma physician and scientist, James R. Berenson, M.D.

Ask the Expert is a free online web-forum where Myeloma and Bone Cancer specialist, Dr. James R. Berenson offers medical answers to questions surrounding quality of life and longevity issues for patients living with this rare form of cancer.
 
Los Angeles, CA – MMSupport.net and the Institute for Myeloma and Bone Cancer Research are proud to announce the creation of “Ask the Expert”, a free online web-forum featuring Multiple Myeloma expert, Dr. James R. Berenson.

This web site is dedicated to the memory of Chris Hollyer, and has been created for those of us with Multiple Myeloma, our caregivers and friends and families to use as a resource. The content is 100% contributed by members.

You're encouraged to contribute content about your experiences in order to help others learn by sharing your knowledge. You may use the "Contact Us" link to send your stories, news or comments. Thanks for visiting!

There's a new menu system.  You can choose to participate in informal polls, read what others have contributed and print essential information by clicking on the appropriate menu selection.

Please use the search feature to find what you're looking for if you don't find it readily.

When registering, you don't have to use your full name if you don't wish to.  Simply use your initials, first name and first letter of your surname or a nickname.

Public release date: 11-Jan-2008

Contact: Vanessa Wasta
wastava@jhmi.edu
410-955-1287
Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions 

Scientists at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center say they have evidence that cancer stem cells for multiple myeloma share many properties with normal stem cells and have multiple ways of resisting chemotherapy and other treatments.

A report on the evidence, published in the Jan. 1 issue of the journal Cancer Research, may explain why the disease is so persistent, the Johns Hopkins scientists say, and pave the way for treatments that overcome the cells’ drug resistance. Multiple myeloma affects bone marrow and bone tissue.

From an Ohio State University Press Release http://researchnews.osu.edu/archive/yangvegf.htm

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Researchers here have shown that in cell cultures, the stress hormone norepinephrine appears to promote the biochemical signals that stimulate certain tumor cells to grow and spread.

The finding, if verified, may suggest a way of slowing the progression and spread of some cancers enough so that conventional chemotherapeutic treatments would have a better chance to work. Eric Yang Ronald Glaser

ROCHESTER, Minn. -- Mayo Clinic Cancer Center, March 7, 2007
(http://cancercenter.mayo.edu/) researchers have found that chaetocin, a by-product of a common wood mold, has promise as a new anti-myeloma agent. Results of their study are available online in the March 15 issue of Blood (http://bloodjournal.hematologylibrary.org/).

"This research is only the beginning," says
Keith Bible, M.D., Ph.D., oncologist and the study's primary investigator. "But we are very hopeful that chaetocin may some day provide needed help to our patients."

ROCHESTER, Minn. -- Mayo Clinic Cancer Center has opened a new Phase I clinical trial testing an engineered measles virus against multiple myeloma, a cancer of the bone marrow that currently has no cure. This is the third of a series of molecular medicine studies in patients testing the potential of measles to kill cancer.

"This is the beginning of a long but exciting process," says Angela Dispenzieri, M.D., hematologist and lead researcher on the multiple myeloma clinical trial in the measles virus investigation. "We are very hopeful that this will be a step toward helping our patients."