Author: Alex Strauss

Biomarkers | Diagnosis | Genetics | Prognosis | Research | Updates

BAP1 Mutation May Bode Well for Mesothelioma Survival
ByAlex Strauss November 11, 2014March 20, 2019

A new study has some good news and some bad news for people who carry the BAP1 genetic mutation. The bad news is that they have a significantly higher risk of contracting malignant mesothelioma and several other types of cancer than people without this genetic mutation. The good news is that, people with the BAP1 mutation who do get mesothelioma, have a seven-fold increase in long-term survival over mesothelioma patients without this genetic anomaly. Now, a multicenter study involving the University of Hawaii Cancer Center, the Samuel Oschin Comprehensive Cancer Institute-Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles, the Hofstra-North Shore LIJ School of Medicine in New York, and the New York University Langone Medical Center finds that BAP1 mesothelioma may actually be more survivable….

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Chemotherapy | Europe | International | New Drugs | New Studies | Research | Treatments | Updates

Oral Drug Combination May Prolong Survival in Previously-Treated Mesothelioma Patients
ByAlex Strauss November 7, 2014March 16, 2017

Doctors in one of the world’s top mesothelioma hotspots say they have found an oral drug combination that appears to slow the progression of mesothelioma in patients who may have exhausted their treatment options. The study comes from cancer researchers at the Antalya Education and Research Hospital in Antalya, Turkey who tested a combination of oral cyclophosphamide and etoposide – a combination they refer to as ‘EE’. More than half (54.5%) of the mesothelioma patients who received EE experienced stable disease, meaning their mesothelioma tumors stopped growing for a period of time. Four of the 22 patients had an even better result – their mesothelioma tumors actually shrunk. In the remaining 35.9% of patients on EE, mesothelioma continued to progress….

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Biopsy | Diagnosis | Europe | International | New Techniques | Scans | Updates

Fine Needle Biopsy: An Easier Way to Diagnose Mesothelioma?
ByAlex Strauss November 5, 2014March 23, 2019

IExamining the tissue from a suspected tumor under a microscope is currently the only way to definitively diagnose suspected mesothelioma. But doctors at the University of Catania say cutting-needle biopsy, the pleural biopsy technique used by most surgeons, may be unnecessarily painful for patients. In their response to a recent published article on the subject in the journal Chest, Dr. Marco Sperandeo and colleagues present the case for what they say is a less traumatic type of biopsy – thoracic ultrasound-guided fine needle aspiration. According to the Italian researchers, “These tools, quite neglected, are complementary to CT imaging in patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) or lung cancer (LC), are less traumatic, and are equally or more successful, with minimal…

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Chemotherapy | New Drugs | New Studies | Research | Treatments | Updates

Vegetable Compound May Help Treat Mesothelioma with Fewer Side Effects
ByAlex Strauss November 3, 2014July 9, 2019

Phenethyl isothiocyanate (PEITC) is a naturally occurring isothiocyanate. Brussels sprouts, watercress, radishes and capers all get their characteristic flavors from isothiocyanates. Noting that PEITC has shown promising results against several other types of cancer, doctors at Universite Nantes tested it alone and in combination with cisplatin on nine lines of pleural mesothelioma and on healthy mesothelial cells. Some of the cells had been co-cultured with M2 macrophages, immune system cells that promote cell proliferation. Both PEITC and cisplatin were toxic to mesothelioma cells and that toxicity increased as the dose increased. But together, the two compounds were even more powerful, not only increasing each other’s anti-cancer effects but preventing the emergence of treatment resistant mesothelioma cells. Just as importantly, the…

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Diagnosis | Prognosis | Scans | Surgery | Treatments | Updates

PET/CT and Mesothelioma Staging: Better Imaging Techniques are Needed
ByAlex Strauss October 31, 2014March 26, 2019

Scientists with the Institute of Diagnostic and interventional Radiology at the University Hospital of Zurich have just released a new study detailing the benefits and limitations of PET/CT. Positron Emission Tomography (PET) is a nuclear medicine imaging technique that produces three-dimensional pictures of functional processes in the body. When combined with computed tomography (CT), which uses x-rays and a computer to produce cross-sectional images, PET can give clinicians a more complete picture of cancer growth and stage. To determine the value of PET/CT in the staging of mesothelioma, the Swiss team analyzed the cases of 62 pleural mesothelioma patients who were undergoing chemotherapy prior to a planned surgery. Since the goal of this induction chemotherapy is to shrink tumors to…

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Biopsy | Diagnosis | New Studies | Prognosis | Research | Updates

Mesothelioma Subtype Predicts Poor Survival Odds
ByAlex Strauss October 29, 2014March 25, 2019

Histological subtyping, which involves classifying mesothelioma types by certain microscopic features, plays a crucial role in diagnosis, treatment, and determining life expectancy in malignant pleural mesothelioma. The three major subtypes of pleural mesothelioma are epithelioid, sarcomatoid, and biphasic. While all three types carry a poor prognosis, epithelioid mesothelioma, which accounts for 50 to 70 percent of cases, usually responds better to treatment than the other two types. But a new published study suggests that that is not always the case. Doctors at the University of Zagreb School of Medicine in Croatia say there is a subtype of epithelioid mesothelioma that carries as poor a prognosis as the sarcomatoid and biphasic types. To reach that conclusion, the team analyzed biopsy specimens and…

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Asbestos | Compensation | Europe | International | Occupations | Updates

Report Finds Mesothelioma “Grossly Under-Recognized” in Spain
ByAlex Strauss October 26, 2014March 26, 2019

The newly-published study, was conducted by the Ministry of Health in Madrid and the Department of History of Science at the University of Granada. According to the report, although asbestos-related occupational cancers like mesothelioma were added to the Spanish list of occupational diseases in 1978, “there are no full accounts of compensated cases since their inclusion”. The goal of the study was to analyze the number of asbestos-related cancers that had been recognized as stemming from patients’ occupations. The researchers analyzed the incidence of mesothelioma by year, economic activity, and occupation and compared the mortality rates of mesothelioma and work-related lung cancer to rates in the rest of Europe. The study found that, between 1978 and 2011, 164 asbestos-related occupational…

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Asia | Chemotherapy | International | Mesothelioma | New Studies | Research | Treatments | Updates

Alimta May Extend Mesothelioma Survival as a Maintenance Therapy
ByAlex Strauss October 23, 2014March 20, 2019

T Scientists in Japan have just published details of a case they say could be pivotal to the treatment of intractable malignant pleural mesothelioma. Pleural mesothelioma is usually caused by exposure to asbestos and starts in the membrane around the lungs. Although there is no cure for mesothelioma, a chemotherapy combination of the platinum drug cisplatin and the anti-folate pemetrexed is considered to be the gold standard drug therapy. Unfortunately, many patients cannot tolerate high doses of cisplatin because of the danger of liver damage. But respiratory medicine specialists at Uji Tokushukai Medical Center in Japan say this problem may be tackled for some mesothelioma patients by continuing to give them pemetrexed. Dr. Takayuki Takeda and his team report the…

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Australia | Biopsy | Diagnosis | International | Mesothelioma | Radiation Therapy | Treatments | Updates

Catheter Path Tumors in Mesothelioma Patients May Be Benign
ByAlex Strauss October 19, 2014March 21, 2019

People suspected of having pleural mesothelioma often have some type of intervention that involves inserting a needle into the pleura. This can happen in order to obtain a tissue sample for diagnosis or to place a catheter to drain off fluid that can accumulate around the lungs. Unfortunately, mesothelioma patients who have these types of interventions are also prone to developing tiny tumors along the path where the needle was inserted. These tumors are usually assumed to be metastatic mesothelioma that was “seeded” by the needle, and are typically treated with targeted radiation. But doctors at the University of Western Australia say clinicians should not be too quick to treat such tumors without confirming the diagnosis with a biopsy. Dr….

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Europe | Immune Systems | Immunotherapy | International | Prognosis | Research | Treatments | Updates

Protein Discovery Could Open Door to New Treatment for 1 in 5 Mesothelioma Patients
ByAlex Strauss October 16, 2014March 16, 2017

That news comes from a team of Spanish researchers presenting their new findings at the European Society of Medical Oncology (ESMO) Conference in Barcelona, Spain. The protein, called PD-L1 or programmed cell death ligand 1, is part of an immune system pathway that acts to suppress the body’s natural anti-tumor immune response, preventing the body from attacking the cancer. It appears to play a central role in how tumors invade and spread and has been linked to prognosis in several other types of cancer. The new report is the first to link PD-L1 with mesothelioma survival. Dr. Susana Cedres and her colleagues with Vall d’Hebron Institute Oncology in Barcelona tested for PD-L1 expression in tissue samples from 119 mesothelioma patients….

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Author: Alex Strauss

BAP1 Mutation May Bode Well for Mesothelioma Survival

Oral Drug Combination May Prolong Survival in Previously-Treated Mesothelioma Patients

Fine Needle Biopsy: An Easier Way to Diagnose Mesothelioma?

Vegetable Compound May Help Treat Mesothelioma with Fewer Side Effects

PET/CT and Mesothelioma Staging: Better Imaging Techniques are Needed

Mesothelioma Subtype Predicts Poor Survival Odds

Report Finds Mesothelioma “Grossly Under-Recognized” in Spain

Alimta May Extend Mesothelioma Survival as a Maintenance Therapy

Catheter Path Tumors in Mesothelioma Patients May Be Benign

Protein Discovery Could Open Door to New Treatment for 1 in 5 Mesothelioma Patients

United States Sources

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), UNITED STATES

Creighton University School of Medicine, UNITED STATES

David Geffen School of Medicine, UCLA, UNITED STATES

Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, UNITED STATES

Mayo Clinic, UNITED STATES

Moffitt Cancer Center, Tampa, FL, UNITED STATES

National Institute for Occupational Safety & Health, UNITED STATES

University of Chicago, Medical Center, UNITED STATES

University of Maryland School of Medicine, UNITED STATES

University of Hawaii Cancer Center, UNITED STATES

Wake Forest University School of Medicine, UNITED STATES