The MMORE for Multiple Myeloma Research Fund was established by the efforts of Multiple Myeloma Opportunities for Research and Education (MMORE) — a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation dedicated to raising awareness and raising funds through fun and inspiring community events.
MMORE’s mission was to support multiple myeloma research to discover new life-prolonging treatments, improve quality of life for myeloma patients and ultimately find a cure for all multiple myeloma patients.
MMORE operated from 2008-2016, donating more than $3.1 million to myeloma research at the OSUCCC – James.
But the work is not done.
The MMORE for Multiple Myeloma Research Fund at the OSUCCC – James continues to provide funding for cutting-edge multiple myeloma research.
The multiple myeloma team at the OSUCCC – James has made incredible, hopeful advances in multiple myeloma research.
Every donation to the MMORE Fund, large and small, comes together to support that research with the mission of finding a cure for multiple myeloma.
MMORE Fund at Work
The multiple myeloma team at the OSUCCC – James has made incredible advances in multiple myeloma research through the efforts of MMORE and donations to the MMORE Fund, including:
- MMORE dollars were spent to research ways to change the interaction between natural killer cells and myeloma cells, focusing on a novel antibody to help stimulate the body’s immune system to attack myeloma cells.
- MMORE funds purchased the cytokine bead array system to analyze multiple signaling pathways in a tumor cell or immune cell at once, rather than one at a time as with older technology. This new technology allows us to see the “forest” rather than individual “trees” (that is, to see the effect of a drug on the entire cell and learn both how the drug works and how potential resistance is acquired to the treatment).
- MMORE dollars helped developed three new strategies to enhance the immune system’s ability to recognize and kill multiple myeloma cells. This information has been used to provide preliminary data needed to fund a larger research effort.
- MMORE dollars helped develop resources here at the OSUCCC – James and at collaborating organizations that target and kill myeloma cells. This area of research has progressed forward. AR-42 was originally synthesized in the College of Pharmacy and, after years of laboratory testing, the first clinical trial of AR-42 in patients with multiple myeloma was completed and published by Ohio State’s myeloma team.
- MMORE dollars are funding a myeloma coordinator to track all patients diagnosed at the OSUCCC – James and has expanded across Ohio to allow all patients in the state to participate. This registry continues to be a powerful resource for discovery and advancing our understanding of myeloma.
- MMORE-funded research at the OSUCCC – James has been published in scientific peer-reviewed publications.
- MMORE has funded many laboratory research projects, ranging from developing and testing new treatments to studying the process of myelomagenesis — how myeloma starts in the first place. These studies continue presently and continue to provide new avenues of exploration and promise.
- Seed money from MMORE has allowed researchers at the OSUCCC – James to move research through the beginning phases of promising discoveries and become highly eligible for millions of dollars in funding from other sources.