Dr. Joseph Mikhael:
If you have multiple myeloma, you may have heard the words CRS or cytokine release syndrome, but what does that really mean? Hi everybody. Dr. Joseph Mikhael here of the International Myeloma Foundation, and I'm going to walk us through CRS or cytokine release syndrome in less than a minute.
Cytokine release syndrome is what happens in the body when a patient is given certain treatments that we call immune treatments. That's where we're engaging the immune system to help fight their multiple myeloma. We see it with CAR T-cell therapy and we see it with bispecific antibodies. And basically what happens is when we introduce these new therapies to the body, the body gets a little bit confused. The immune system, it gets a little bit reactive to what's going on. Whether it's the infusion of T-cells that we give in CAR T-cell therapy or the presence of a bispecific or even trispecific antibody, the immune system starts releasing more hormones or what we call cytokines that can really ramp up the system that'll affect people's blood pressure, that might affect their temperature and may affect their overall wellness. Thankfully, if we can intervene quickly with cytokine release syndrome or even prevent it, patients can do very well and it can be very short-lived.
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