[Current and future approaches to therapy for multiple myeloma].

Multiple myeloma accounts for approximately 10% of hematologic cancers; it is characterized by an uncontrolled malignant growth of plasma cells occurring usually in the bone marrow or sometimes in other body sites as well. Malignant myeloma cells produce monoclonal immunoglobulins appearing as monoclonal spikes in the serum and/or urine. Patients with multiple myeloma suffer from various clinical features including bone destruction, bone marrow suppression, impaired renal function, hypercalcemia, serious infection, and amyloidosis. The combination of melphalan and prednisolone has been used as a standard therapy for this disease for over 30 years. The median survival of patients with multiple myeloma is 2.5-3 years, and only 10% of them survive longer than 10 years. To improve the prognosis for multiple myeloma, some strategies have been attempted. In this article, we introduce combination chemotherapy, interferon therapy, and bone marrow transplantation as newer approaches to therapy for multiple myeloma based on the biological characteristics of intractable multiple myeloma. Future therapeutic approaches are also discussed.