chemotherapy

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    Systemic Chemotherapy Ineffective in Peritoneal Mesothelioma?

    ByAlex Strauss

    Peritoneal mesothelioma is a rare cancer that occurs in the membranous lining of the abdomen. This virulent cancer is caused by exposure to asbestos. Because it is so aggressive, most patients with peritoneal mesothelioma are treated with multiple modalities, or a variety of different treatments, in an effort to attack the cancer from all sides. For patients whose mesothelioma is considered operable, surgery is frequently preceded by a round of preoperative chemotherapy. Also referred to as neoadjuvant chemotherapy, preoperative chemotherapy aims to shrink the tumor as much as possible before cytoreductive surgery. Later, during surgery, the same peritoneal mesothelioma patient may have intraoperative chemotherapy (HIPEC) in which chemotherapy drugs are washed through the body cavity where the cancer was found. The procedure…

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    For Some Patients Chemo Cuts Mesothelioma Survival

    ByAlex Strauss

    Asbestos disease researchers in Australia say chemotherapy at the end of life may be doing some mesothelioma patients more harm than good. The team from the Asbestos Diseases Research Institute in Rhodes, Australia analyzed the cases of 147 malignant pleural mesothelioma patients who had received compensation from the government’s Dust Diseases Board. The focus of the study was to determine the association between a variety of factors such as age, gender, geographic location, disease stage, histological subtype, length of first-line chemotherapy, and the use of chemotherapy in the last month of their lives. Among the mesothelioma patients studied, most (77%) received more than one treatment modality while 56% received only one. Chemotherapy, which continues to be the most popular first-line treatment…

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    EPP No, Chemotherapy Yes, Suggests New Mesothelioma Study

    ByAlex Strauss

    A pair of thoracic oncologists from Belgium say it’s time to go a step further in the wake of a controversial study on mesothelioma surgery and examine the impact of perioperative chemotherapy. Based on mesothelioma research from around the world, the 2011 Mesothelioma and Radical Surgery (MARS) randomized feasibility study concluded that extrapleural pneumonectomy (EPP) was too risky and should be abandoned as a surgical approach for mesothelioma. EPP involves removing not only the diseased pleura containing the mesothelioma tumor, but also the nearest lung, the diaphragm, and other internal membranes.  The MARS study recommended, instead, that operable mesothelioma be treated with lung-sparing pleurectomy/decortication (P/D) or extended pleurectomy/decortication. But surgery alone, regardless of which method is used, has been shown to produce…

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    Long-Term Mesothelioma Survivor Used Heat and Chemotherapy

    ByAlex Strauss

    Patients and families struggling with malignant mesothelioma can take some encouragement from the case of a long-time mesothelioma survivor, published recently in a medical journal. The patient, a 61-year-old Japanese man with a five year history of asbestos exposure, was referred to the hospital for chest pain. A computed tomography scan showed thickening on his right pleura (the lining around the lungs) and some small nodules. When doctors did a more thorough investigation using video-assisted thoracoscopy, they found a tumor growing on the muscles of the chest wall. Histopathological evaluation identified it as the sarcomatoid type of malignant pleural mesothelioma. Sarcomatoid is the most aggressive mesothelioma cell type. Because there is no consistent cure for mesothelioma, most clinicians choose to take a…

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    Neoadjuvant Chemo Combo May Improve Mesothelioma Survival

    ByAlex Strauss

    For treatment of malignant pleural mesothelioma prior to surgery, one chemotherapy combination may be better than another.  That is the central message of a recent Italian study published in Anticancer Research. Mesothelioma is an aggressive cancer caused by exposure to asbestos. It affects the membranes around organs and is often incurable. According to some studies, patients who have the best odds of survival are those who undergo multimodal therapy, including some combination of chemotherapy, surgery and/or radiotherapy. The folate antimetabolite pemetrexed (Alimta) was the first chemotherapy drug specifically approved for the treatment of mesothelioma. It can be used prior to surgery (neoadjuvant) as a way to shrink a tumor and make it more operable, or after surgery (adjuvant) as a way…

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    Heated Chemo in Mesothelioma Challenged by New Study

    ByAlex Strauss

    A procedure that involves washing heated chemotherapy drugs through the open body cavity after mesothelioma surgery may not be as helpful as some mesothelioma experts had hoped. A study on hyperthermic chemotherapy perfusion conducted by researchers in the thoracic surgery department at the David Geffen School of Medicine suggests that most mesothelioma cells lines are relatively unaffected by heat. The laboratory study included three kinds of mesothelioma cell lines, along with lung cancer cells, hamster-derived ovarian cells, and normal lung fibroblasts. First, the growth rate of each type of cell was measured in the lab. Next, to test the impact of heat alone and different types of cells, the cells were exposed to 37, 42 and 45 degrees centigrade for 20, 40 or…

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    New Agents May Enhance Mesothelioma Therapy

    ByAlex Strauss

    Mesothelioma is a deadly cancer of the internal membranes that line the chest and abdomen and encase the heart. Once cancer has started on these membranes, it is extremely difficult to keep it from spreading to nearby organs. Conventional therapies, including chemotherapy and radiotherapy, have little effect on mesothelioma. Now, two new studies out of Japan say there may be a way to change that. One study reports on an agent that may improve the cancer-killing power of radiotherapy. The other focused on the use of viruses to enhance the power of standard chemotherapy. For the radiotherapy study, researchers in the Department of Thoracic Surgery at Okyama University examined the impact of manipulating microRNA molecules inside cells. In a previous study,…

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    Inhibitor May Reduce Mesothelioma Fluid and Prolong Survival

    ByAlex Strauss

    A drug based on a naturally-occurring cell growth inhibitor may boost the effectiveness of chemotherapy against mesothelioma fluid buildup. The drug, called Endostar, is based on endostatin, a compound derived from human collagen. In the body, endostatin acts as an anti-angiogenic agent, preventing the kind of vascular development that cancer cells need to grow and thrive. By effectively choking off the natural formation of tumor-feeding blood vessels, Endostar aims to ‘starve’ mesothelioma cells and shrink tumors. In an article detailing a recent Endostar case study, researchers in China report on its ability to relieve one of the most life-limiting symptoms of mesothelioma – excessive fluid buildup. As mesothelioma cells spread across internal membranes, such as the pleura (around the lungs) or peritoneum…

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    Mesothelioma Vaccine Enters Phase 2 Testing

    ByAlex Strauss

    The makers of a new cancer vaccine say they have enrolled the first mesothelioma patients in a study that will combine their drug with chemotherapy against this virulent cancer. The drug, currently known as CRS-207, is manufactured by Aduro Bio Tech, Inc. According to a company press release, CRS-207 is based on an attenuated (made less potent) version of Listeria monocytogenes, bacteria found in soil and water than can cause the food borne illness, Listeriosis. To make CRS-207, scientists at Aduro genetically modified the Listeria monocytogenes in order to produce a powerful immune response against cells that produce mesothelin. Mesothelin is a tumor-associated antigen produced by several types of cancer cells, including mesothelioma cells. Because it works in conjunction with the body’s…

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    T-Cells Can Predict Mesothelioma Treatment Success

    ByAlex Strauss

    Mesothelioma patients whose T-cell counts bounce back quickly after a round of chemotherapy have a better chance of survival. They are also most likely to benefit from the addition of immunotherapy. That’s the conclusion of a British study looking for prognostic indicators in mesothelioma patients undergoing a combination of chemotherapy. Noting that there is increased interest in pairing chemotherapy with immunotherapy, the group was also looking for a method of determining who would benefit most from the combination. Chemotherapy is the most common first-line treatment for mesothelioma. It involves flooding the body with a drug or combination of drugs designed to destroy cancer cells. Immunotherapy involves “programming” the immune system to recognize cancer cells as foreign invaders and attack them the…