Osteopontin and Mesothelioma: Unraveling the Connection
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Osteopontin and Mesothelioma: Unraveling the Connection

ByHolly Zink

Scientists in Italy found that a protein called osteopontin is important to the growth of mesothelioma. Mesothelioma is a cancer that is caused by exposure to asbestos. It most often develops in the lungs or abdominal cavity. Mesothelioma is rare, with only 2,000 cases in the United States each year. The disease occurs more often in men than women. It can take decades after asbestos exposure for symptoms of the cancer to start affecting a patient. Mesothelioma is often difficult for doctors to treat. They usually create treatment plants that involve surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation. But there is still much that we do not know about mesothelioma, including the best ways to shrink tumors and improve survival. Key Protein in…

Scientists Find New Way To Treat Mesothelioma
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Scientists Find New Way To Treat Mesothelioma

ByHolly Zink

Scientists Find New Way To Treat Mesothelioma Scientists think they can find new ways to treat mesothelioma by looking at its genetic makeup. The genetic changes and interactions between cancer cells and their environment could hold the key to new therapies. This is the hope of a group of scientists from Italy who published their ideas in the International Journal of Molecular Sciences. Mesothelioma Tumor and Cancer Genetics Malignant pleural mesothelioma is a cancer caused by exposure to asbestos. One reason it is hard to treat is because it doesn’t have specific genetic targets like other types of cancer. The area around the mesothelioma tumor also makes it hard to treat. The environment around the tumor affects how the tumor…

Light-based Diagnostic Tool May Find Early Mesothelioma
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Light-based Diagnostic Tool May Find Early Mesothelioma

ByAlex Strauss

Cancer researchers in Japan say technology that uses fluorescent light to detect cancer cells could be used to help find early evidence of malignant pleural mesothelioma. The technology is based on a phenomenon called autofluorescence, explained by the Japanese research team as “the spontaneous emission of light that occurs when mitochondria, lysosomes, and other intracellular organelles absorb light”. Normal cells produce green autofluorescence in response to a certain type of blue light. But in mesothelioma and other cancer cells, the green autofluorescence is reduced and the light emitted shifts to a red-violet. Doctors at the Department of Respiratory Center at Asahikawa Medical University in Hokkaido used this photodynamic diagnostic system to find tiny clusters of mesothelioma cells on the surface…