January 16, 2003

Researchers seek cancer patients for Velcade clinical trial

By Elizabeth Crown

Cancer researchers at the Feinberg School of Medicine are seeking patients with relapsed or treatment-resistant multiple myeloma to participate in an investigational clinical trial using Velcade (bortezomib).

Bortezomib is a new drug that inhibits the proteasome, an enzyme complex in cells that breaks down a number of proteins, including many that regulate cell division. Drugs that block this key enzyme complex from working may help treat cancers ranging from cancers of the blood, such as myeloma and leukemia, to solid tumors, such as those in the prostate and colon.

The principal investigator for the bortezomib study at Northwestern is Seema Singhal, M.D., professor of medicine at the Feinberg School and a researcher at The Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University. Singhal is also a hematologist/oncologist at Northwestern Memorial Hospital and directs the multiple myeloma program.

Multiple myeloma is a type of blood cancer that affects an estimated 40,000 Americans, with more than 14,000 cases diagnosed annually. In multiple myeloma, plasma cells grow out of control in the bone marrow, causing bone and kidney damage and suppression of the normal bone marrow and immune system.