Research Progress on Drug Combination Therapy for Multiple Myeloma

Multiple myeloma (MM) is a malignant hematological disease of plasma cells. Its the second most frequent hematological malignancy and is highly heterogeneous and complex. In recent years, the pathogenesis of multiple myeloma has been studied in depth, and new drugs are continuously emerging; the strategy of drug combination therapy of treating multiple myeloma has made great progress. The research progress of drug combination therapy for multiple myeloma is reviewed with emphasis on the combined application of proteasome inhibitors, immunomodulatory agents, monoclonal antibodies, and other drugs, and the clinical effects of the above drug combination regimens in different treatment stages (induction therapy, consolidation therapy, maintenance therapy). The studies have demonstrated that drug combination regimens can significantly enhance the complete remission rate of patients, prolong the progression free survival and the overall survival, improve the quality of life of patients, overcome drug resistance, and achieve the effect of overcoming drug resistance through the combination of drugs with different mechanism. Nevertheless, drug combination has some challenges, like drug interactions and adverse reaction management, and further treatment regimen optimization will be required to achieve precise treatment. The biological characteristics of multiple myeloma are not fully understood, and new drugs are continuously being developed, making the drug combination therapy for multiple myeloma have a broad development prospect that day.