The Lab: What is Myeloma?

One of the most common questions which I get when I speak to people about this campaign is simply, "What is Myeloma?" I can't blame anyone for asking; until my father was diagnosed, I don't think I had even heard of the cancer before.

The first thing I'll say is that in this post, I want to give you a rough picture of the disease, however I am by no means an expert (unless you enjoy taking medical advice from a mechanical engineer). If you would actually like to know more about Myeloma, I recommend you visit the Myeloma Canada webpage. They've done a fantastic job of compiling a library of information on causes, symptoms, diagnosis, statistics and treatments, both traditional and experimental.

Myeloma (or Multiple Myeloma: they're the same thing) is a cancer of the plasma cells. As such, it affects both the blood system as well as the bone marrow, making it one of the more difficult cancers to deal with.

B lymphocytes (or B cells) are produced in the bone marrow and are the cells that eventually turn into plasma cells. When someone has myeloma, these B cells multiply at an uncontrollable level. This abnormal level of plasma cells can cause an array of problems from crowding out other necessary cell types (red blood cells) to forming tumors inside of the bone marrow.

Once these tumors begin to form, the body's immune system becomes adversely affected. Normally, the immune system would attempt to halt the cancerous growth of the myeloma cells, however since plasma cells are a part of the immune system, the body is stuck fighting it's own defenses against the cancer.

sources:
http://www.myelomacanada.ca/en/whatismyeloma.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiple_myeloma
http://myeloma.org/main.jsp?menu_id=0&tab_id=1&type=ARTICLE&id=601