Cutting-Edge Research in Relapsed and Refractory Multiple Myeloma

Dear Colleagues,

Multiple myeloma is one of the most common, incurable, malignant hematological diseases. However, treatment progress tends to be good, demonstrated by extended patient life spans.

Increasingly effective combinations of standard groups of drugs, such as proteasome inhibitors, immunomodulatory drugs, and monoclonal antibodies, as well as the autologous transplantation of hematopoietic stem cells and improved supportive care have contributed to this progress.

Although disease remission after initial treatment is achieved in most patients, multiple myeloma is a disease prone to relapse. Each subsequent relapse, in principle, responds less well to therapy, and each subsequent remission period becomes shorter until the disease finally becomes resistant to any type of treatment.

The clinical manifestation of relapsed and refractory multiple myeloma is usually preceded by microenvironmental, cytogenetic, and molecular changes that lead to the production of new malignant plasma cell clones that have a better ability to grow and survive, as well as greater drug resistance.

In the treatment of relapsed and refractory multiple myeloma, there are great expectations from new immunotherapy modalities, such as bispecific antibodies and CAR T-cell therapy; the results of these in the treatment of severely overtreated patients are extremely promising.

Considering the growing scientific and clinical significance of relapsed and refractory multiple myeloma, the journal Medicina is launching this Special Issue titled "Cutting-Edge Research in Relapsed and Refractory Multiple Myeloma".

The aim of this Special Issue is to present and discuss all biological and clinical aspects of relapsed and refractory multiple myeloma, including epidemiology, diagnostics, antitumor and supportive treatment, and patient monitoring. Although the topic of this Special Issue is relapsed and refractory disease, high-quality and interesting papers dealing with newly diagnosed multiple myeloma will also be considered for publication.

We kindly invite all scientists and clinicians around the world to send their original papers, reviews or mini reviews, case series, and case reports that fit into the theme of this Special Issue and thus contribute to the dissemination of knowledge about this important and frequent hematological malignant disease.

Dr. Toni Valković
Dr. Sandra Bašić-Kinda
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Medicina is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• multiple myeloma
• relapsed
• refractory
• biology
• microenvironment
• genetics
• diagnostic
• treatment
• clinical mainifestation
• outcome