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Multiple myeloma patients may want to adopt a new mantra: just breathe.
University of Iowa researchers have found a link to sleep apnea and multiple myeloma. In Iowa, myeloma is in the top 10 deadliest cancers for women.
The story was featured on local TV channel KCRG. Patients who have sleep apnea stop breathing at certain intervals during the night. According to the University of Iowa researchers, up to 25% of people in the United States have sleep apnea.
The researchers tested 60 mice and put them in a chamber to simulate sleep apnea conditions, then they injected the mice with multiple myeloma cells. Over half developed the blood cancer. This is the first time researchers have linked it to a blood cancer.
"We're doing those first studies at the University of Iowa now,” said Melissa Bates an assistant professor of health and human physiology with the University of Iowa. “If we treat you for your sleep apnea, does it increase your response to chemotherapy.”
The study will last more than two years and the researchers Researchers said this study will last more than two years. They are recommending all doctors ask cancer patients about sleep apnea because it can be treated, although for some patients this can be an annoyance.
"It's not trivial to treat it,” she said. “You wear a mask at night, and some patients find it uncomfortable. Some patients, partners are disturbed by them wearing the mask at night. So it's a commitment to doing the treatment.”
Could increased oxygenation also help myeloma patients recover from transplant? Another study being performed at the Wilmot Cancer Institute was awarded $1M by the National Cancer Institute to test hyperbaric oxygen therapy to see if it helps myeloma patients recover faster from a stem cell transplant. This type of oxygen therapy is used in wound healing but is not frequently used in cancer care. It involves going into a pressurized chamber and breathing 10o% oxygen. The three year project led by Omar Aljitawi, M.D., associate professor of Hematology/Oncology showed that oxygen therapy was safe and effective at stimulating healthy blood production following transplant. The study will also look at the impact of hyperbaric oxygen therapy in the recovery of white blood cells called natural killer (nk) cells and if that could help suppress myeloma regrowth.
