 | Author(s) | | | Hopkins Tanne J |
| Publication | | | British Journal of Medicine |
| Reference | | | 327;7 |
| Publication Date | | | July 2003 |
|  | This paper follows a previous review, discussing the use of Bortezomib in the treatment of myeloma.
Bortezomib is the first of a new class of drugs called proteasome inhibitors, which have shown a 35% response rate in relapsed refractory multiple myeloma.
“Proteasomes are present in normal and cancerous cells. They degrade proteins as part of normal protein turnover. Proteasome inhibitors modulate the pattern of protein breakdown resulting in tumour cell death or inhibition of tumour cell growth, survival and drug resistance” (Lipper J 2003).
Although this is a short news article it is useful to show the interest in this new treatment and the early encouraging evidence, we all need to be aware of these new treatments as our patients are now well informed and often approach us as practitioners for information on new innovative therapies.
Comment by: Tracey Burgoyne, Lecturer Practitioner Cancer Care, University of Central England Birmingham, 2004.
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