Author: Alex Strauss

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    9/11 Committee Recommends Mesothelioma Coverage

    ByAlex Strauss

    Firefighters and first responders at risk ofmesothelioma because of 9/11 may finally be getting some help from the federal government. The World Trade Center Scientific and Technical Advisory Committee has added a list of cancers – including mesothelioma – to the list of illnesses they feel should be covered by the Zadroga Act.  Passed by Congress in 2010, the Zadroga Act provides $4.3 billion to monitor, treat and compensate people affected by the 9/11 attacks. Although cancer was not on the original list of illnesses covered by the act, a number of scientific studies on emerging health effects convinced the Advisory Committee that it should be.  Even before first responders began getting sick, a Mount Sinai School of Medicine analysis of…

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    Radiotherapy for Mesothelioma: Experience Counts

    ByAlex Strauss

    When it comes to advanced radiotherapy techniques for mesothelioma, experience counts. That is the central message of a study conducted at Duke University Medical Center. Radiation Oncology researchers at Duke examined the records of mesothelioma patients who had received Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy (IMRT) following surgery between 2005 and 2010.  All the mesothelioma patients had undergone extrapleural pneumonectomy (EPP), a radical procedure that involves the removal of the pleura and other membranes, a lung, and all or part of the diaphragm. Radiotherapy can be especially challenging for mesothelioma – a cancer of the membranes around organs – because so many critical structures are located so close to the treatment area.  IMRT is designed to help direct more radiation into tumors while…

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    ‘Body Clock’ Chemical Could Help Fight Mesothelioma

    ByAlex Strauss

    One of the chemicals responsible for helping establish the body’s circadian rhythms may also help doctors fight mesothelioma. BMAL1 is an important component of the circadian clock, the internal biochemical ‘clock’ that regulates such important body functions as heart rhythm, wake-sleep cycles, and hunger.  Previous studies have found that mesothelioma cells produce more BMAL1 than healthy cells. Now, a group of Japanese doctors is proposing that the extra BMAL1 in mesothelioma cells could serve as a target for anti-cancer drugs. Malignant pleural mesothelioma – the most common form of mesothelioma – is a cancer of the mesothelial lining around the lungs. It is caused by exposure to asbestos and, to date, there is no consistently affective treatment.  The irregular shape of…

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    Mesothelioma Vaccine Jump Starts Immunity

    ByAlex Strauss

    Scientists studying a vaccine for mesothelioma have published some of their most important preliminary data in the respected medical journal Lung Cancer. Mesothelioma, a cancer of the organ linings caused by asbestos exposure, is highly resistant to conventional treatments.  Not only does it grow quickly, but its shape makes detection and removal difficult. Unlike some other types of solid tumors which may grow in a mass, mesothelioma tumors tend to spread out in a sheet-like formation across membranes. The UK scientists have been experimenting with a new method for targeting and destroying mesothelioma tumors, regardless of their shape. 5T4 is an antigen overexpressed by several kinds of cancer cells. The researchers tested for 5T4 in mesothelioma cells taken from 11 lab-grown cell…

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    Mesothelioma Study Reveals Need to Step Up Pain Control

    ByAlex Strauss

    Healthcare providers should make pain control a higher priority for their patients with mesothelioma and other lung-related cancers. That is the message of a recent University of Pennsylvania study on pain management.  The study gathered information on pain and pain control from patients with mesothelioma or lung cancer between 2005 and 2008. Participants were asked to fill out an Internet-based questionnaire that included 22 questions designed to assess their symptoms, evaluate their pain, and appraise their attitudes toward pain medication. Of the ninety people who filled out the survey, nine percent had mesothelioma, a rare cancer of the lining of the chest or abdominal cavity.  The other 91 percent had either small-cell or non-small-cell lung cancer. Most were men and 89 percent…

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    Long-Term Mesothelioma Survival Possible with Tri-Modal Approach

    ByAlex Strauss

    The case of a Peruvian woman treated for mesothelioma in Italy is more evidence that this rare cancer is not only increasingly treatable, but can even be survivable. Mesothelioma is an aggressive malignancy that spreads across the thin membranes that encase internal organs.  The most common type occurs in the pleura, the lining around the lungs. In most cases, the prognosis is poor; many patients are told they are unlikely to live out the year. But as treatment protocols improve, a growing number of mesothelioma patients are defying the odds and living much longer. A tri-modal approach including chemotherapy to shrink the mesothelioma, surgery to remove it, and radiotherapy to prevent its return has proven to be an effective strategy for…

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    Mesothelioma Still on the Rise in Japan

    ByAlex Strauss

    While the rate of mesothelioma continues to slowly decline in the U.S., the virulent asbestos-linked cancer is still on the rise in Japan. A new Japanese study on future health trends projects that the incidence of mesothelioma won’t peak in Japan until 2027.  In the meantime, tens of thousands of Japanese workers are expected to die of mesothelioma.  Based on considerations such as the number of workers in industrial jobs and the likelihood of asbestos exposure, the study projects the mesothelioma death toll to reach 66,327 people ages 50 to 89 between 2003 and 2050. Although a 2009 study of Japanese mesothelioma risk predicted a maximum of just 37,000 deaths by 2070, the new study’s authors say their prediction method is likely…

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    Firefly Compound Guides Mesothelioma Treatment

    ByAlex Strauss

    An oxidative enzyme derived from fireflies may help shed light on a new treatment for mesothelioma. Researchers at Memorial Sloan-Kettering in New York, one of the country’s top cancer centers, have just released their findings on the use of firefly luciferase as a guide for a heat-based treatment of  mesothelioma. Firefly luciferase is an enzyme responsible for the bioluminescence of fireflies.  When the enzyme is isolated and treated, it can be made to bind with certain biomarkers, causing cells with these markers to glow. The technique has opened the door for bioluminescence imaging, a precision imaging method that works at the molecular level. In the new study, mesothelioma cells were treated with a specially-prepared firefly luciferase gene and their level of…

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    UK Announces “Landmark” Mesothelioma Ruling

    ByAlex Strauss

    Britain’s highest court has issued what is being called a ‘landmark’ ruling for victims of mesothelioma and other industrial diseases. Mesothelioma is a fast-growing cancer of the membranous tissue (mesothelium) that surrounds the lungs and lines the abdomen. It is caused by exposure to asbestos.  Because of the heavy use of asbestos as an insulator and building material in the past, England now has one of the highest per capita rates of mesothelioma in the world. According to the country’ largest trade union, approximately 2,500 people are diagnosed with mesothelioma each year – about the same number as are diagnosed in the entire United States. Since mesothelioma can take decades to develop, the UK Supreme Court was being asked to decide…

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    Leukemia Drug Fails Mesothelioma Trial

    ByAlex Strauss

    An oral leukemia medicine doctor’s had hoped might help certain mesothelioma patients won’t be moving on to the next level of clinical trials. Phase II drug trials use human subject to determine a drug’s safe dose and measure its effectiveness.  In Phase II trials of dasatinib, a drug currently used for leukemia patients that have failed other treatments,  mesothelioma researchers found the medicine had “no activity” and was too toxic to justify its use. Caused by exposure to asbestos, mesothelioma is challenging to treat and effective therapies are limited.  Because of dasatinib’s success as a second-line treatment for chronic myeloid leukemia, doctors reasoned that it might help patients with inoperable mesothelioma.  In the study to test this hypothesis, 46 mesothelioma patients were…