| | | |

Liquid Biopsy for Early Stage Mesothelioma Diagnosis

ByAlex Strauss
Liquid biopsy

Canadian researchers are exploring a liquid biopsy test that could lead to early diagnosis of malignant mesothelioma.

The test is based on mesothelial precursor cells (MPC). The researchers say these cells – in combination with mesothelin and some kinds of stem cells – “could be implicated” in the development of mesothelioma. 

A liquid biopsy detects cells in blood instead of tissue. The University of Toronto scientists think MPC in blood may be a new mesothelioma biomarker. If it proves to be true, this kind of biopsy might be able to identify mesothelioma patients even before they have symptoms.

How Liquid Biopsy Works

Patients with suspected mesothelioma may have many tests. Imaging scans and blood tests can help tell if a biopsy is warranted. Right now, tissue biopsy is the only way to know for sure if a person has mesothelioma. 

Most people associate the word “biopsy” with removing some tissue. But a biopsy is just a procedure to take a sample of cells from the body. If those cells are in the blood, it is a liquid biopsy.

Liquid biopsy has some advantages over tissue biopsy for patients. It is less invasive, less expensive, and less painful. It also produces faster results. Because a blood test is easy to repeat, doctors can use it to tell if a treatment is working. 

There is no diagnostic blood test for mesothelioma. But the new Canadian research could change that. 

A Blood Test for Early Mesothelioma?

It is rare to find MPC in the blood. Most conventional blood tests cannot find these cells. That is why the Canadian researchers developed their own liquid biopsy for mesothelioma. They call it MesoFind.

“MesoFind…utilizes an immunomagnetic, mesothelin capture strategy coupled with immunofluorescence to identify rare populations of cells at high sensitivity and precision,” they write. 

They tested MesoFind on 23 pleural mesothelioma patients, 23 asbestos-exposed people, and 10 healthy people. The goal was to see how well the test picked up diagnostic and prognostic markers.

The new liquid biopsy showed MPC were higher in people with mesothelioma than in healthy people. Two other markers (mesothelin and CD90+ stem cells) were high in asbestos-exposed people. People with advanced mesothelioma had high mesothelin and CD34+ stem cells. The results suggest that MesoFind could be useful for mesothelioma diagnosis and prognosis. 

“The identification of circulating MPC presents an attractive solution for screening and early diagnosis of epithelioid mesothelioma,” writes University of Toronto researcher Bill Duong. “The presence of different subtypes of MPC have a prognostic value that could be of assistance with clinical decisions in patients with MPM.”

Source:

Duong, B, et al, “A liquid biopsy for detecting circulating mesothelial precursor cells: A new biomarker for diagnosis and prognosis in mesothelioma”, October 9, 2020, EBioMedicine, Epub ahead of print, https://www.thelancet.com/journals/ebiom/article/PIIS2352-3964(20)30407-2/fulltext

Similar Posts

  • |

    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

    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…

  • | | |

    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

    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

    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…

  • | |

    Needle Biopsy “Simple, Safe & Accurate” for Mesothelioma

    ByAlex Strauss

    Mesothelioma researchers in China say a biopsy method that involves a single skin puncture can produce good diagnostic results for mesothelioma patients with little pain or risk. The study focused on percutaneous (through the skin) biopsy in patients who had unexplained fluid buildup or swelling in their abdomens. Abdominal distension and fluid buildup (called ascites) can be signs of peritoneal mesothelioma, a rare but aggressive cancer of the abdominal lining caused by exposure to asbestos. Peritoneal mesothelioma accounts for less than 30% of all mesothelioma cases. Because the symptoms may be vague and often develop many decades after asbestos exposure, peritoneal mesothelioma can be especially challenging to diagnose.  Misdiagnosis and under-diagnosis are not uncommon. In the newest study on percutaneous…