News & Updates
- Working Group
- News Items [Last Update: 24-July-08]
- What's New on the UKMF Web-site [Last Update: 17-July-03]
- UKMF Newsletters
- LRF / UKMF Cytogenetics Database Progress Report [May 2001]
- Clinical Trials News
- MERIT [Last Update: 19-Feb-2004]
- Myeloma IX [Last Update: 15-March-03]
- PS341 [Last Update: 19-May-02]
Working Group
UKMF in conjunction with the Myeloma Committee of the NCRI has set up a working group with a view to stream lining the clinical trial process and developing a programme of Phase I/II trials capable of making new agents available for the patients in the UK.
This group is in its early stages and is meeting monthly to deal with this exciting initiative in a timely manner and has now held 4 meetings.
Members of the group are:
- Professor Curly Morris
- Professor Gareth Morgan
- Dr Kwee Yong
- Dr Jim Cavet
- Dr Jamie Cavenagh
- Ex-officio members which will include Chairman UKMF (presently Dr Steve Schey), Chief Executive Myeloma UK (presently Mr Eric Low) and a yet to be appointed statistician.
We will use the website to update the members of our progress over the next few months.
News Items
International Symposium on Amyloidosis, London 2008
VIIth International Symposium on Familial Amyloid Polyneuropathy and Ist International Workshop on Hereditary Amyloidosis
2nd - 5th September 2008
at
KingÕs College London
Strand Campus. www.amyloidmeeting.org
Click here to download information.
MERIT trial [19-Feb-2004]
The MERIT trial has received MREC approval and opened for recruitment in January. For further details see the MERIT trial section.
Guidelines on the Diagnosis and Management of Solitary Plasmacytoma [17-Jul-2003]
This latest UKMF Guidelines document was compiled by a subgroup of the Guidelines Working Group of the UK Myeloma Forum on behalf of the British Committee for Standards in Haematology (BCSH) - a sub-committee of the British Society for Haematology (BSH) - and is available on the UKMF web-site in HTML and PDF format.
IMF (UK) Research Award 2002 Available
IMF (UK) is offering research grants as part of its 2002 Research Programme. We are particularly interested in funding clinical-based research or development projects concerning any aspect of myeloma. The award for this year is up to £30,000, with possible second year funding. For information and application details, visit our website, send e-mail, or call Andy Binns on 0131 557 3332 during office hours.
What's New on the UKMF Web-site
July 2003
17th July: Published Guidelines on the Diagnosis and Management of Solitary Plasmacytoma of Bone (SBP) and Solitary Extramedullary Plasmacytoma (SEP) on UKMF web-site
May 2003
08th May: Published article with MCQ's on the investigation of paraproteins in serum and urine, reprinted courtesy of Rila publications from their CPD Bulletin in Clinical Biochemistry
February 2003
26th February: Published abstracts from the 4th Annual UK Myeloma Forum Scientific Meeting on February 7th 2003
13th February: Published the December 2002 revision on the use of Bisphosphonates in the management of multiple myeloma [see UKMF Guidelines Documents - Guidelines on the Diagnosis and Management of Multiple Myeloma]
December 2002
05th December: Published abstracts from the 4th Annual Education Meeting on 25th November 2002
October 2002
09th October: Published Annual Report For the Year Ending 31st March 2002 and the Minutes of the UKMF Clinical Trials WP / MRC ALWP Myeloma Subgroup meeting
August 2002
01st August: Published abstracts from the AGM & Clinical Meeting on 12th July 2002
July 2002
10th July: Published position paper on Thalidomide in Multiple Myeloma: current status and future prospects
September 2001
8th September: Patient information booklets on Multiple Myeloma and AL amyloidosis, published by the IMF (UK), downloadable from the Patient Resources section
August 2001
8th August: Guidelines on the Diagnosis and Management of Multiple Myeloma published
July 2001
12th July: Updated Science page to include the current research program at the Cancer Research Unit, University of Newcastle.
01st July: Updated Clinical Trials page to include forthcoming Myeloma IX and PRIME trials.
June 2001
23th June: Published abstracts from the Second Scientific Meeting on Bone Disease in Multiple Myeloma on 26-Jan-2001 at The Royal Society
UKMF Newsletters
There are currently no more Newsletters planned. It is anticipated that all items of UKMF news will appear in this (News & Updates) section of the web-site.
Previous newsletter: February 2001
LRF / UKMF Cytogenetics Database Progress Report
[as of the end of May 2001]
The cytogenetics database project started in October 2000, initially only taking samples from Wessex. In March 2001 we opened for nationwide samples. So far 9 other centres have signed up promising around 150 samples per year, but the vast majority of samples arriving are still from Wessex. An average of nearly 4 specimens per week are received.
Initial problems with the quality of the samples have been largely overcome by asking for a minimum of 3ml of good quality (ie not haemodilute) marrow, but some samples are still inadequate for plasma cell purification. To overcome this we are experimenting with dual FISH and immunostaining on cytospin preparations which should allow limited results (eg major 13q abnormality and 14q split) to be obtained.
We have just started banking DNA and RNA and anticipate that this should be possible from the majority of purified specimens in the future.
13% of samples received contained no plasma cells and a further 22% contained less than 3% plasma cells. These were not necessarily MGUS samples, simply haemodilute. Only 18.5% of samples contained more than 15% plasma cells.
So far we have reported on 52 cases. 15 samples (28%) had a deletion of chromosome 13, and 21 (40%) had a split in the IgH locus suggesting a translocation. 33% of the IgH splits have been shown to be due to a t(11;14) (13% of total cases) and 28% to a t(4;14) (11% overall). All t(4;14) cases also had a 13q deletion, but none of the t(11;14) cases had abnormal 13s, bearing out the correlations that others have found. We also have some data on numerical abnormalities in these cases: only 4 patients have not shown any chromosome changes so far.
We think we can cope with more samples, at least for the time being, and therefore urge anyone who is interested in using the service to get in touch with Fiona Ross on 01722 429087. We are trying to simplify the follow-up information requested.
MERIT Clinical Trial
[Last Update: 19-Feb-2004]
The randomised controlled trial of plasma exchange formally known as PRIME has been renamed MERIT [Myeloma Renal Impairment Trial], as the PRIME acronym was already in use for another trial. MREC approval has been received and the trial opened for recruitment in January 2004.
Myeloma IX Clinical Trial
[Last Update: 15-March-03]
The MRC Myeloma IX trial has now received MREC approval and is due to open to recruitment nationwide in June 2003. Protocols and LREC packs can be obtained from Sue Bell, Senior Trial Co-ordinator, Northern and Yorkshire Clinical Trials and Research Unit, 17 Springfield Mount, Leeds, LS7 4HD. Telephone 0113 343 1492.
PS341 (Velcade™) Clinical Trial
[Last Update: 19-May-02]
An international phase III study in relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma will open shortly (anticipated entry from August 2002), comparing PS341 and dexamethasone in patients with progressive disease. A second non-randomised study of PS341 alone is also anticipated soon.