A national clinical trial, which opens imminently, will aim to assess the impact of a novel anti-cancer drug in the setting of donor bone marrow transplantation for myeloma.

As part of this trial, investigative studies will also be performed at the University of Leeds to determine the effect of this drug on the immune system recovery post bone marrow transplant and how this may relate to disease control.

The three year studies, funded by Yorkshire Cancer Research, will officially start next month at the university and test the drug Lenalidomide (Revlimid) produced by global pharmaceutical company Celgene International Sàrl. Lenalidomide is currently used under licence in the UK and internationally for myeloma patients who have not undergone a high-risk bone marrow transplant.

The Leeds studies will run parallel to the ongoing national clinical study and will specifically assess whether Lenalidomide is beneficial to the immune systems of multiple myeloma patients who have undergone a bone marrow transplant and are therefore at severe risk of contracting a life-threatening infection.

The laboratory studies are being conducted by St James's University Hospital and Leeds Institute of Molecular Medicine consultant haematologist Dr Gordon Cook and Clinical Scientist Dr Clive Carter.

The study ultimately aims to deliver a safer bone marrow transplant treatment strategy without affecting the usefulness of such a procedure for multiple myeloma cancer patients whose prognosis is limited.

Dr Cook said: "Recovery of the immune system after a donor bone marrow transplant is a highly complex process influenced by many key elements and sadly infection-related mortality still remains the main cause of death in the first 100 days after a bone marrow transplant.

"Simply put, we know that the success of donor stem cell transplantation in myeloma relates to the donor immune system attacking the tumour cells. So the trial has been set up to test a new drug, Lenalidomide (Revlimid) which has been found, through international phase three trials, to be effective at disease control in myeloma patients.

"Fundamentally, we will be testing this drug's effect in myeloma patients who have specifically undergone a donor transplant to see if it increases recovery of their immune system whilst keeping the disease controlled in the same way it does those who haven't undergone a transplant.

"Whilst data exists to describe the effect of Lenalidomide on the immune system the immunological effects of Lenalidomide in the context of myeloma patients undergoing a donor transplant have yet to be studied so this trial and these studies are crucial if we are to improve survival rates for all myeloma patients."

Yorkshire Cancer Research Liaison Officer, Dr Kathryn Scott said: "Yorkshire Cancer Research is excited to be funding this patient-centred cancer research and hopes are high that adding this new drug to the treatment plan for myeloma patients will reduce the chances of patients succumbing to an infection after a bone marrow transplant.

"Yorkshire Cancer Research is looking to supporting more of this kind of work to complement the very early stage laboratory studies that we currently fund in Yorkshire's five universities."

Sources: Yorkshire Cancer Research, AlphaGalileo Foundation.

View drug information on Revlimid.