Immunotherapy May Improve Chemotherapy for Mesothelioma
A treatment designed to inhibit a cell protein called CTLA-4 may improve the effectiveness of chemotherapy for mesothelioma. Chemotherapy is considered a front-line treatment for mesothelioma, although it is only moderately effective. Because mesothelioma is a highly aggressive cancer of the mesothelium, chemotherapy is often used as part of a multimodality therapeutic approach. Increasingly, immunotherapy, which involves manipulation of the genes and immune system, is also part of the treatment approach. CTLA-4 is the name for both a protein and the gene that is responsible for producing it. A recent published study tested the theory that knocking down cellular production of the CTLA-4 protein could slow tumor growth and stimulate the immune system between rounds of chemotherapy. To test the…