The South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute in the Adelaide BioMed City precinct. The University of Adelaide Researchers from the Myeloma Research Laboratory have uncovered the importance of white blood cells – called macrophages – which could lead to new treatments for multiple myeloma. Lead researcher Khatora Opperman said while previous therapies attempted to fight multiple myeloma by focusing on the disease itself, the pre-clinical study targeted the supporting cells. “With most cancers, mutations in your cells, those cells become abnormal and they start to grow out of control,” she said. “In multiple myeloma, a type of blood cell within the bone marrow starts to grow out of control and spread throughout the bone marrow.” “We’ve found that there’s a certain cell type within this space, the macrophages, that are critical in helping the cancer cells to get to the bone marrow but also help them grow and […]