New Enzyme Study Highlights a Potential New Mesothelioma Treatment
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New Enzyme Study Highlights a Potential New Mesothelioma Treatment

ByHolly Zink

Maryland researchers say an enzyme in mesothelioma tissues could be key to fighting this deadly cancer. Doctors at the University of Maryland say the enzyme, called Transglutaminase 2 (TG2), plays an important role in the inhibition of RNA synthesis which, in turn, can influence the development and spread of malignant mesothelioma. A New Target for Mesothelioma Therapy? Mesothelioma is a cancer of the lung linings that develops in response to asbestos exposure. Mesothelioma patients have a limited life expectancy. Chemotherapy with or without surgical resection is the standard of care. This poor clinical experience speaks to the need for new treatment strategies. Current mesothelioma treatments do not target cancer stem‐like (MCS) cells. MCS cells are a small part of aggressive…

Enzyme May Help Doctors Determine Mesothelioma Prognosis
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Enzyme May Help Doctors Determine Mesothelioma Prognosis

ByAlex Strauss

Cancer researchers in New York say they have found a new way to help determine prognosis for people with malignant pleural mesothelioma. In a report in the Annals of Surgical Oncology, a team of doctors from Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center say patients whose cancer cells tested positive for an enzyme called CD10 had more aggressive mesothelioma and shorter survival times. Right now, stage (a measure of how far cancer has spread in the body) and type are the primary prognostic factors for mesothelioma. People with more advanced cancer or non-epithelioid mesothelioma tend to have poorer outcomes than people with epithelioid or early-stage mesothelioma. By offering another reliable prognostic factor, the new study suggests that CD10 can help make the process more effective, which may improve…

Enzyme Makes Mesothelioma More Aggressive, Less Responsive to Treatment
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Enzyme Makes Mesothelioma More Aggressive, Less Responsive to Treatment

ByAlex Strauss

There’s new evidence that a glycoprotein produced on the surface of some mesothelioma cells could have a major impact on disease progression and treatment outcomes – especially in patients with the biphasic form of the disease. Biphasic mesothelioma accounts for about 20 to 35 percent of mesothelioma cases and is generally considered even more difficult to treat than the more common epithelioid mesothelioma. Now, a team of Italian researchers from the University of Torino say they have discovered one of the factors that may influence the aggressiveness of biphasic mesothelioma. The focus of their new study is a molecule called CD157, an enzyme that has been associated with ovarian cancer. Because the epithelial cells of the ovaries and the cells…

Firefly Compound Guides Mesothelioma Treatment
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Firefly Compound Guides Mesothelioma Treatment

ByAlex Strauss

An oxidative enzyme derived from fireflies may help shed light on a new treatment for mesothelioma. Researchers at Memorial Sloan-Kettering in New York, one of the country’s top cancer centers, have just released their findings on the use of firefly luciferase as a guide for a heat-based treatment of  mesothelioma. Firefly luciferase is an enzyme responsible for the bioluminescence of fireflies.  When the enzyme is isolated and treated, it can be made to bind with certain biomarkers, causing cells with these markers to glow. The technique has opened the door for bioluminescence imaging, a precision imaging method that works at the molecular level. In the new study, mesothelioma cells were treated with a specially-prepared firefly luciferase gene and their level of…

Experimental Mesothelioma Drug Enters Phase 2 Trial
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Experimental Mesothelioma Drug Enters Phase 2 Trial

ByAlex Strauss

An experimental enzyme-based therapy for malignant mesothelioma has now moved into the second phase of testing in England. The manufacturer of ADI-PEG 20 says the first patient has been enrolled in the Phase 2 clinical trial of the drug under the direction of scientists at the Centre for Experimental Cancer Medicine, Barts Cancer Institute, Queen Mary University of London. The treatment is based on the idea that certain tumor cells are unable to produce a metabolic enzyme that normal cells already have. Cells need the enzyme, called argininosuccinate synthetase, to produce the amino acid arginine, which is necessary for growth and replication. In a previous study, 63 percent of patients with malignant mesothelioma were found to have little or no…