Gemcitabine in Treating Patients with Refractory or Relapsed Multiple Myeloma

Background: Patients with refractory or relapsed multiple myeloma are considered to have a very poor prognosis, and new regimens are needed to improve the outcome. Gemcitabine, a nucleoside antimetabolite, is an analog of deoxycytidine which mainly inhibits DNA synthesis through interfering with DNA chain elongation and depleting deoxynucleotide stores, resulting in gemcitabine-induced cell death. Here we performed a systemic analysis to evaluate gemcitabine based chemotherapy as salvage treatment for patients with refractory and relapsed multiple myeloma. Methods: Clinical studies evaluating the impact of gemcitabine based regimens on response and safety for patients with refractory and relapsed multiple myeloma were identified by using a predefined search strategy. Pooled response rate (RR) of treatment were calculated. Results: In gemcitabine based regimens, 3 clinical studies which including 57 patients with refractory and relapsed multiple myeloma were considered eligible for inclusion. Systemic analysis suggested that, in all patients, pooled RR was 15.7% (9/57) in gemcitabine based regimens. Major adverse effects were hematologic toxicity, including grade 3 or 4 anemia, leucopenia and thrombocytopenia i. No treatment related death occurred with gemcitabine based treatment. Conclusion: This systemic analysis suggests that gemcitabine based regimens are associated with mild activity with good tolerability in treating patients with refractory or relapsed multiple myeloma.