New Chemo Research: Good and Bad News for Mesothelioma
| |

New Chemo Research: Good and Bad News for Mesothelioma

ByAlex Strauss

Three new published studies contain a mixed bag of findings on the effectiveness of chemotherapy for mesothelioma. In a study designed to help doctors predict which mesothelioma patients will respond to pemetrexed-based chemotherapy, the most common first-line treatment, results were promising. Pemetrexed works, in part, by preventing mesothelioma cells from synthesizing several key enzymes, including thymidylate synthase (TS). Scientists involved in the multi-center pemetrexed study found that, as predicted, high levels of TS during therapy were a sign that the drug was not working to fight a patient’s mesothelioma. In a separate cellular process, pemetrexed is converted into a more effective form by folylpoly-y-glutamate synthetase (FPGS).  In the same study, patients who had high FPGS expression saw better mesothelioma tumor response…

New Chemotherapy Approaches for Mesothelioma
| |

New Chemotherapy Approaches for Mesothelioma

ByAlex Strauss

A pair of new studies may help doctors improve the effectiveness of chemotherapy treatment for mesothelioma. The first of two new chemotherapy studies tested the value of adding bevacizumab to the drug combination of cisplatin and pemetrexed often used to treat mesothelioma. Bevacizumab (Avastin) inhibits angiogenesis, the growth of new blood vessels needed to feed cancer cells. It is currently used to treat a number of different cancers, including colorectal, lung, kidney and ovarian cancer. In the U.S., it has also been used to treat the brain cancer glioblastoma.  Results have been mixed. In a multicenter study led by researchers at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, bevacizumab was added to the cisplatin/pemetrexed combination for 52 previously untreated mesothelioma…

Immunotherapy May Improve Chemotherapy for Mesothelioma
| |

Immunotherapy May Improve Chemotherapy for Mesothelioma

ByAlex Strauss

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…

Drug Combo Fails to Improve Mesothelioma Survival
| |

Drug Combo Fails to Improve Mesothelioma Survival

ByAlex Strauss

Adding the VEGF-inhibitor bevacizumab to a popular chemotherapy combination for mesothelioma does not appear to prolong survival after all. Scientists at 11 of the nation’s top cancer centers have reached that conclusion after a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled test of the combination. Vascular Endothelial Growth Factors (VEGF) are signal proteins produced by cells that play an important role in the formation of blood vessels and in cell growth and division. Some VEGF-inhibitors have shown activity against malignant mesothelioma in preclinical models. Bevacizumab is a popular VEGF-inhibitor. The theory behind the multi-center clinical trial was that adding bevacizumab to the mesothelioma combination of gemcitabine and cisplatin would boost the effectiveness of the drugs and prolong survival. Mesothelioma, an aggressive cancer caused by exposure to…

Effectiveness of Mesothelioma Drug Improved by Other Compounds
| |

Effectiveness of Mesothelioma Drug Improved by Other Compounds

ByAlex Strauss

Two new studies suggest that a popular mesothelioma drug becomes more effective when combined with other compounds. Pemetrexed (Alimta) is considered a gold standard chemotherapy treatment for mesothelioma, a cancer of the membrane that surrounds the lungs and other internal organs. For mesothelioma, pemetrexed is frequently combined with the platinum-based agent, cisplatin. Although many drugs interact with each other or trigger drug resistance, there has been little study of the interaction between these two key mesothelioma drugs. To better understand the relationship between pemetrexed and cisplatin, a team of Japanese researchers used the combination to treat mesothelioma cells in the lab. Although the team did find resistance to either pemetrexed or cisplatin in the mesothelioma cell lines they tested, they confirmed…

Chemotherapy “Bath” May Stop Mesothelioma Spread
| |

Chemotherapy “Bath” May Stop Mesothelioma Spread

ByAlex Strauss

There is more evidence that washing heated chemotherapy drugs through the open body cavity after mesothelioma surgery may help stop the cancer from spreading. A team at the Washington Cancer Institute followed the movement and absorption of these drugs – known as pharmacokinetics – to assess their potential for effectively killing spreading mesothelioma cells without harming healthy tissues.  Specifically, they were studying people who had one of the rarest forms of mesothelioma, called peritoneal mesothelioma. In these patients, mesothelioma in the membrane around their abdominal organs can progress up into the pleural space around the lungs. During a surgery called pleurectomy and decortication (P/D), the surgeon may remove all or part of the diseased pleural membrane and scrape cancer cells off the…

Mesothelioma ‘Triple Treatment’ May Jump Start Killer Cells
| |

Mesothelioma ‘Triple Treatment’ May Jump Start Killer Cells

ByAlex Strauss

New mesothelioma research from Harvard University suggests that if one type of immunotherapy is effective against mesothelioma, three types might be even more effective. Immunotherapy involves manipulating the immune system to fight disease. Some types of cancer, including mesothelioma, take hold in the body in part by ‘shutting down’ the natural immunotoxins, or cell killers, that would normally attack them. Now, scientists are working with a number of molecules designed to jump start the immune system and help it recognize, target, and even ‘remember’ invading mesothelioma cancer cells. Using a mouse model of mesothelioma, the Harvard researchers investigated the roles of three factors effecting immunity: regulatory T-cells, intratumoural transforming growth factor (TGF)-â and cytotoxic T lymphocyte-associated antigen-4 (CTLA4). The researchers…

New Mesothelioma Drug Granted Special FDA Status
| |

New Mesothelioma Drug Granted Special FDA Status

ByAlex Strauss

The Federal Drug Administration (FDA) has granted orphan drug status to a medication that may help boost the effectiveness of the standard cisplatin/pemetrexed chemotherapy combination for mesothelioma. CBP501, produced by the Japanese Drug company CanBas, is a novel synthetic peptide that seems to enhance the effectiveness of cisplatin by acting on multiple pathways that govern the lifecycle of cells and the natural repair of DNA damage. By modulating the production of a certain enzyme, it allows mesothelioma cells to become more susceptible to the damaging effects of platinum (cisplatin) build-up. At the same time, it prevents the cells from properly repairing themselves. The drug has also shown the ability to resensitize mesothelioma cells that have become resistant to cisplatin. The FDA’s…

Vatalanib Not Effective as a ‘Single Agent’ for Mesothelioma
| |

Vatalanib Not Effective as a ‘Single Agent’ for Mesothelioma

ByAlex Strauss

There has been a setback for doctors hoping the drug vatalanib would be a viable alternative to chemotherapy for mesothelioma patients. Scientists with the Cancer and Leukemia Group B (CALGB), a research team based at the University of California, have ruled out further study on the medication as a single agent (administered by itself) after a phase II trial found no significant survival benefit among mesothelioma patients. Vatalanib is an oral medicine classified as an anti-angiogenesis drug, designed to inhibit the formation of new blood vessels necessary to ‘feed’ a growing tumor. Although vatalanib has shown promise in the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer and has been compared to Avastin (bevacizumab), another anti-angiogenesis drug being tested for mesothelioma, the…

Modest Increase in Mesothelioma Survival from Chemotherapy
| |

Modest Increase in Mesothelioma Survival from Chemotherapy

ByAlex Strauss

The chemotherapy combination that has become the standard of care for mesothelioma in many parts of the world appears to be making a modest but measurable difference for mesothelioma patients in The Netherlands. Mesothelioma is caused almost exclusively by inhalation or ingestion of asbestos fibers and is notoriously resistant to most conventional treatments. Within the last decade, chemotherapy with cisplatin-antifolate combinations has been shown to improve responses and prolong survival. Based on the successes shown in clinical trials, a trio of research scientists in The Netherlands launched their own population-based study to “assess the impact of this development on clinical practice and survival at a population-based level.” The study focused on 4,731 Dutch patients diagnosed with mesothelioma between 1995 and…