| | | | | |

Cellular Factors Predict Survival in Epithelioid Mesothelioma Patients

ByAlex Strauss

mesothelioma scientist in white lab coat

A team of French scientists believe they have found a way to predict survival and help plan a treatment course for people with the epithelioid form of malignant pleural mesothelioma.

Until now, mesothelioma histological subtype has been the only way to reliably predict mesothelioma prognosis based on pathology (cellular characteristics that can be seen under a microscope).

But mesothelioma researchers at the University Hospital of Saint Etienne have identified several  subtle differences between epithelioid mesothelioma cells from different patients that may have an impact on their treatment outcomes.

Histopathology and Mesothelioma Prognosis

Histopathology is the study of changes in tissue caused by disease. In the case of pleural mesothelioma, exposure to asbestos can cause the healthy cells in a person’s mesothelial membrane (the membrane that surrounds the lungs) to undergo malignant changes.

During the diagnostic process, some of these cells must be removed via surgical biopsy and examined under a microscope. By looking at the shape, size, nucleus and other characteristics of these cells, a pathologist can not only confirm a diagnosis of mesothelioma, but can also tell what histological subtype a person has.

Epithelioid mesothelioma, which carries the best prognosis and the most options for treatment, is the most common subtype of mesothelioma. It features cells that lack uniformity and may form small tubes or clusters.

Differences Between Epithelioid Mesothelioma Cells

In the new French study, researchers assessed the relationship between histopathological factors and prognosis in 116 patients diagnosed with pleural mesothelioma.

They identified six factors in epithelioid mesothelioma cells, including the look and size of structures inside the nucleus and the way in which the cells divide, that appear to make a significant difference in mesothelioma prognosis.

Only one of those factors – atypical mitosis (cell division) – was found to be related to survival in people with non-epithelioid mesothelioma subtypes.

“Our work highlights that histopathological prognostic factors can be assessed on pleural biopsies and can predict reliably median overall survival,” writes Cyril Habougit, a researcher in the department of pathology at University Hospital of Saint Etienne.

Dr. Habougit says the information could help doctors select the best candidates for mesothelioma surgery and could identify subgroups of mesothelioma patients who might benefit from different therapies.

The article appears in the international medical journal Virchows Archiv.

Source:

Habougit, C, et al, “Histopathologic features predict survival in diffuse pleural malignant mesothelioma on pleural biopsies”, March 27, 2017, Virchows Archiv, Epub ahead of print

Similar Posts

Mesothelioma Still Rising Despite Ban in Ireland
|

Mesothelioma Still Rising Despite Ban in Ireland

ByAlex Strauss

A study in Ireland confirms that it can take many years for a ban on asbestos to have a measurable impact on a country’s rates of malignant mesothelioma. Mesothelioma is the most serious of a list of diseases – including lung cancer, pleural plaques, asbestosis, and others – linked with exposure to asbestos dust. Affecting the linings around the lungs and other organs, mesothelioma is often resistant to most cancer treatments and may be fatal within a year of diagnosis. According to the International Ban Asbestos Secretariat, Ireland is one of 55 countries that have enacted some type of asbestos ban. However, although Ireland banned asbestos in 2000, a new study published in Cancer Epidemiology shows that incidence of the…

Website Aims to Protect Homeowners from Mesothelioma
|

Website Aims to Protect Homeowners from Mesothelioma

ByAlex Strauss

Australia’s Cancer Council is trying to educate home renovators about their risk for mesothelioma with a new e-learning course. Australia has one of the highest per capita rates of mesothelioma in the world, largely because of several asbestos mining operations that were once located there. Although asbestos has been banned from building products in Australia since 1989, asbestos-linked diseases like mesothelioma, lung cancer, and asbestosis continue to pose a serious health concern. While mesothelioma has traditionally occurred among people exposed to asbestos on the job, Australia is now bracing for another “wave” of mesothelioma victims among homeowners who encounter asbestos while doing their own renovation projects. Cancer Council Australia has launched “kNOw asbestos in your home” in an effort to…

Ape Virus Shrinks Mesothelioma Tumors in Lab
|

Ape Virus Shrinks Mesothelioma Tumors in Lab

ByAlex Strauss

A virus that causes leukemia in gibbon apes may have the power to help fight malignant mesothelioma in people. Gibbon ape leukemia virus (GALV) has been tested for years as a viral vector, a carrier of therapeutic genetic information, in the treatment of various human illnesses, including cancer. A new study in Japan compared GALV with a leukemia virus derived from mice to see which carrier communicated most efficiently with mesothelioma cells. While both types of viruses replicated in most of the mesothelioma cell lines tested, the mouse-derived virus was not effective in a mesothelioma cell line called ACC-MESO-1. In this cell line, only the GALV spread efficiently both in culture and in mice that had been given human mesothelioma…

Mesothelioma Nurses Ready for New Cases in Australia
| | |

Mesothelioma Nurses Ready for New Cases in Australia

ByAlex Strauss

Australia is bracing for an expected new wave of mesothelioma cases in the next decade and the Lung Foundation of Australia is taking action now to get ready. The Foundation has paid for ten nurses from around the country to receive specialized training in helping patients and families cope with mesothelioma. The nurses, who have recently completed the training, are now equipped to lead treatment planning for these complex cancer patients and to help other nurses do the same. Pleural mesothelioma is an aggressive cancer that occurs in the lining around the lungs. It is caused by exposure to asbestos dust, a toxin that was once alarmingly prevalent in Australia where it was mined and heavily used in construction. Because…

Mesothelioma Blood Test May Be Possible
|

Mesothelioma Blood Test May Be Possible

ByAlex Strauss

An international team of researchers is studying the proteins found on the surface of cancer cells in an effort to improve mesothelioma diagnosis. The team, made up of scientists from the US, Switzerland, Italy and Chile, has just published their findings on a new kind of test to identify protein-derived mesothelioma biomarkers in blood serum. Mesothelioma is an aggressive cancer of the membranes around organs. Because the most common mesothelioma biomarker, mesothelin, is also overproduced by other kinds of cancer cells, it has only limited diagnostic value. A test to identify a set of proteins produced specifically by mesothelioma cells could greatly improve diagnostic accuracy. Led by Ferdinando Cerciello and Bernd Wollscheid of the Institute of Molecular Systems Biology in…

Spanish Mesothelioma Deaths Likely to Continue for Decades
| |

Spanish Mesothelioma Deaths Likely to Continue for Decades

ByAlex Strauss

New research in Spain suggests that mesothelioma deaths will continue in the country until the “last surviving member” of the group of people exposed to occupational asbestos succumbs to the disease. Like many countries, Spain used asbestos heavily in the first half of the 20th century, especially in construction, where the mineral was prized for its durability, low cost, and resistance to fire and corrosion.  Asbestos was banned in Spain in 2002. Observing that more than 2.5 million metric tons of asbestos were imported into Spain from 1906 to 2002, researchers say deaths from mesothelioma have risen steadily. Between 1976 and 1980, a total of 491 Spanish people died of mesothelioma. By the 5-year period from 2006 to 2010, that…