apoptosis

The same genes that can help predict which mesothelioma patients will do well after surgery, might also be good targets for gene therapy to combat the disease. That’s the conclusion of one of the nation’s top mesothelioma experts, Dr. David Sugarbaker, and his colleagues at Brigham & Women’s Hospital in Boston. After publishing research showing that certain genes can affect patients’ post-surgical prognosis, the team looked further into the genes themselves and how they relate to mesothelioma. Mesothelioma is highly resistant to standard treatments. Gene therapy, which harnesses and uses the body’s own nature defense system, is being studied as a promising alternative. Starting with lung tissue from both healthy patients and those with malignant pleural mesothelioma, the researchers used…