[Clinical implications of bortezomib in frontline treatment of newly-diagnosed multiple myeloma].

Although multiple myeloma (MM) remains incurable with conventional treatments including high-dose melphalan plus autologous stem cell transplantation, therapeutic strategy has been revised because of the recent introduction of a novel agent such as bortezomib (Bz). The proteasome inhibitor bortezomib is approved for the treatment of advanced MM with at least one prior therapy in Japan at this moment; however, there is a growing body of clinical evidence showing its effectiveness alone and in combination in the frontline setting, with high response rates and consistently high rates of complete response. This review therefore focuses on the clinical data based on the previous studies of Bz in the treatment of newly-diagnosed MM.