Multiple Myeloma: Molecular Biology, Diagnosis and Treatment

Multiple myeloma represents malignant transformation of terminally differentiated plasma cells, and makes up 1% of all cancers and 10% of hematological malignancies with a male predominance and higher incidence in older patients. The disease remains incurable with current treatments and contributes to considerable morbidity and mortality among affected patients. The past decade has seen dramatic progress, both in our understanding of the molecular basis of the disease and in the development of new therapies for the disease. The high response rates seen with the new drugs, especially in combination, has led to a paradigm change in the approach to the patient with myeloma.