Author: Alex Strauss

  • | |

    Mesothelioma Study: QOL Impact Not Enough to Deny Surgery

    ByAlex Strauss

    The risk of reduced quality of life should not be used as an argument against a new surgical technique for peritoneal mesothelioma. That is the conclusion of a team of German doctors studying the combination of cytoreductive surgery (CRS) and hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC) for a variety of abdominal cancers. Peritoneal mesothelioma is a rare form of a rare disease. Arising in the peritoneum, the membrane that forms the lining of the abdominal cavity, it tends to spread quickly. The proximity of the peritoneum to other internal organs increases the chance that mesothelioma will spread. During cytoreductive mesothelioma surgery, surgeons remove as much of the diseased tissue as possible. In a growing number of centers, the procedure is followed by…

  • | |

    Could Iron Removal Stave Off Mesothelioma?

    ByAlex Strauss

    Scientists have long known that exposure to asbestos can cause mesothelioma, but the jury is still out as to exactly why this happens. It is known that the shape of asbestos fibers makes them more likely to lodge deep in tissue, causing chronic irritation. But some have speculated that the high iron content of asbestos – particularly chrysotile asbestos – may also play a key role in triggering mesothelioma. A new study published in the Journal of Pathology appears to support the iron overload/mesothelioma connection.  Japanese scientists studied the effects of three commercially used types of asbestos – chrysotile, crocidolite and amosite – in laboratory rats. Of the three asbestos types, chrysotile brought on mesothelioma the fastest and iron overload…

  • | |

    Measles May Help Fight Mesothelioma

    ByAlex Strauss

    A new mesothelioma clinical trial being conducted at the Mayo Clinic uses an altered version of the measles virus to combat the deadly cancer. The potential of the measles virus to kill cancers like mesothelioma was noticed many years ago, before vaccination curtailed the spread of measles. In several cases, cancer patients who contracted natural measles experienced shrinkage of their tumors. Today, advanced molecular science has made it possible to insert a new gene into the measles virus that can further increase its specificity and potency against mesothelioma tumor cells. Because malignant pleural mesothelioma (the most common type) arises on the mesothelial membrane around the lungs, Mayo Clinic researchers administer the altered measles virus directly into the pleural space, between the lungs…

  • |

    Mesothelioma Diagnosis: SMRP Not the Answer

    ByAlex Strauss

    Soluble mesothelin-related protein (SMRP), a protein found in the blood serum of some people, may not be as effective a biomarker for mesothelioma as it was once thought to be. Malignant mesothelioma is a cancer of the internal membranes that surround the lungs, abdominal organs or heart. It is most often triggered by exposure to asbestos and is difficult to diagnose in its early stages. Biomarkers, like SMRP, are often used to try to make cancer diagnoses earlier since these compounds are often produced in larger quantities by cancer cells than by healthy cells. But in a report in Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine, a team of researchers suggests that SMRP has some significant limitations when it comes to detecting mesothelioma. The…

  • | |

    Cancer Drug May Improve Long-Term Mesothelioma Survival

    ByAlex Strauss

    The case of a German man who has lived more than 9 years with malignant mesothelioma is bringing attention to the drug that may have helped him defy the odds. Mesothelioma is an aggressive malignancy of the pleural, peritoneal or pericardial membranes. It is most closely associated with occupational or environmental exposure to the toxic mineral asbestos and has a median survival of just 12 months after diagnosis. But the 67-year-old former German asbestos worker who is the subject of a new published report has stable mesothelioma, almost a decade after his initial examination. Writing on the case in the medical journal Onco Targets and Therapy, doctors at the University of Essen say the patient was diagnosed with mesothelioma after a CT…

  • |

    New Criteria May Help Doctors Predict Mesothelioma Survival

    ByAlex Strauss

    A new study suggests that mesothelioma doctors may be at a disadvantage when it comes to accurately assessing how well patients are responding to treatment. To correct the problem, they are proposing changes in the standards by which mesothelioma tumors are measured. A team of medical researchers in the U.S. and Australia examined the accuracy of the standard image-based method for assessing tumor progression and treatment response in mesothelioma. What they found is that the standard method may be off by as much as 34% when it comes to evaluating response and as much as 30% when assessing disease progression. Currently, to decide what it means when a mesothelioma tumor grows or shrinks, doctors measure it using computed tomography (CT) scanning…

  • |

    Mesothelioma Staging Guidelines May Need Revisions

    ByAlex Strauss

    The International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC) says the current strategy for staging malignant pleural mesothelioma may need to be modified. According to an international team of IASLC member researchers, the current system, which was established by the International Mesothelioma Interest Group (IMIG) and has been widely used, has a number of flaws. First, in part because it was based on a retrospective analysis of a small group of mesothelioma surgical patients, it has limited value in clinical staging.  In addition, the IMIG mesothelioma staging guidelines use descriptors for lymph node involvement which the IASLC researchers say may not be relevant to mesothelioma. Because of these shortcomings, the IASLC has announced that it will work with the IMIG to…

  • |

    New Biomarker May Detect Mesothelioma Earlier

    ByAlex Strauss

    Researchers at one of the country’s top cancer centers say they have found an effective way to diagnose mesothelioma earlier. Their findings are published in the latest issue of the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine. Fibulin-3 is a protein that is expressed in the membranes of blood vessels. A single mutation in the gene that encodes fibulin-3 has been implicated in a form of macular degeneration. Now, study author and professor of thoracic oncology Harvey Pass, MD, and his colleagues at New York University’s Langone Medical Center believe that fibulin-3 levels in the blood and pleural effusions (fluid around the lungs) can distinguish mesothelioma patients from those who have been exposed to asbestos but do not have the disease. It…

  • | |

    Inhibitor May Reduce Mesothelioma Fluid and Prolong Survival

    ByAlex Strauss

    A drug based on a naturally-occurring cell growth inhibitor may boost the effectiveness of chemotherapy against mesothelioma fluid buildup. The drug, called Endostar, is based on endostatin, a compound derived from human collagen. In the body, endostatin acts as an anti-angiogenic agent, preventing the kind of vascular development that cancer cells need to grow and thrive. By effectively choking off the natural formation of tumor-feeding blood vessels, Endostar aims to ‘starve’ mesothelioma cells and shrink tumors. In an article detailing a recent Endostar case study, researchers in China report on its ability to relieve one of the most life-limiting symptoms of mesothelioma – excessive fluid buildup. As mesothelioma cells spread across internal membranes, such as the pleura (around the lungs) or peritoneum…

  • | |

    Mesothelioma Vaccine Enters Phase 2 Testing

    ByAlex Strauss

    The makers of a new cancer vaccine say they have enrolled the first mesothelioma patients in a study that will combine their drug with chemotherapy against this virulent cancer. The drug, currently known as CRS-207, is manufactured by Aduro Bio Tech, Inc. According to a company press release, CRS-207 is based on an attenuated (made less potent) version of Listeria monocytogenes, bacteria found in soil and water than can cause the food borne illness, Listeriosis. To make CRS-207, scientists at Aduro genetically modified the Listeria monocytogenes in order to produce a powerful immune response against cells that produce mesothelin. Mesothelin is a tumor-associated antigen produced by several types of cancer cells, including mesothelioma cells. Because it works in conjunction with the body’s…