Precision Medicine Treatment: Gene-Targeting Mesothelioma
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Precision Medicine Treatment: Gene-Targeting Mesothelioma

ByHolly Zink

A new precision medicine treatment for mesothelioma comes from scientists in Italy. This form of mesothelioma occurs after asbestos exposure in people with a genetic mutation. The mutation is represented by patients with an inherited cancer syndrome. These patients typically have an even worse prognosis than other mesothelioma patients. But the Italian team came up with a way to target the mutated gene. This form of treatment is called precision medicine. Precision medicine treatment looks at the genetics of a patient to select a treatment that will work best for them. Discovery of a DNA Gene Mutation Malignant pleural mesothelioma is a rare and aggressive cancer caused by exposure to asbestos. Malignant mesothelioma is one of the most aggressive kinds…

Palliative Radiotherapy for Mesothelioma Produces “Substantial Treatment Response”
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Palliative Radiotherapy for Mesothelioma Produces “Substantial Treatment Response”

ByAlex Strauss

Doctors in Pennsylvania may have found a way to boost the effectiveness of palliative radiotherapy for pleural mesothelioma. Palliative radiotherapy is used to help with mesothelioma symptoms. It uses lower doses of radiation. Doctors do not expect to treat mesothelioma with palliative radiotherapy. But researchers at the University of Pennsylvania think it could also be a treatment. They combined palliative radiotherapy with a special kind of gene therapy. The gene therapy affects the immune system. They say the combination produced a “substantial treatment response” in a man with mesothelioma. Immuno-gene Therapy and Palliative Radiotherapy Immuno-gene therapy uses genes to stimulate the immune system against cancer. In the new Pennsylvania case study, a 67-year-old man with mesothelioma received immuno-gene therapy. Doctors…

Mesothelioma Cell Growth Slowed with New Gene Therapy
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Mesothelioma Cell Growth Slowed with New Gene Therapy

ByAlex Strauss

There’s new evidence that therapies that prevent cancer cells from forming new blood vessels may offer a better way to approach malignant pleural mesothelioma. Mesothelioma is the most deadly of several diseases caused by asbestos exposure, including lung cancer, asbestosis and pleural plaques. Most people who develop mesothelioma live less than a year after diagnosis. It is most common in people who have lived or worked around asbestos. Although the disease is resistant to most conventional cancer therapies, a new report published by doctors at the Hyogo College of Medicine in Japan and the University of Miami suggests that agents that prevent blood vessel growth, known as angiogenesis, may be more effective. To test the theory, they introduced angiostatin, endostatin…

New Mesothelioma Treatment Targets Growth Factors
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New Mesothelioma Treatment Targets Growth Factors

ByAlex Strauss

On the brink of a predicted “third wave” of mesothelioma cases in Australia, Australian scientists are testing a new kind of treatment that combines drugs and gene therapy. Australia has long had one of the highest per capita rates of mesothelioma, the most deadly of asbestos-linked diseases. Historically, mesothelioma cases occurred first among people who worked with asbestos in Australia’s mines. Later, new cases developed among people in industrial jobs like construction or shipbuilding. But, in recent years, there is growing concern about a third wave of mesothelioma cases among renovators, do-it-yourself homeowners and others with relatively low levels of exposure. In anticipation of this problem, scientists at Flinders University are working on a mesothelioma treatment that targets “key growth factors…

Challenges and Promises for Mesothelioma Gene Therapy
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Challenges and Promises for Mesothelioma Gene Therapy

ByAlex Strauss

A new report in the medical journal Cancer Gene Therapy says treatments that are based on genetic manipulation with the aid of modified viruses may be the wave of the future for combatting malignant pleural mesothelioma. The report comes from scientists at the Chiba Cancer Center Research Institute and Chiba University Medical School in Japan, where the incidence of mesothelioma is still increasing. Mesothelioma is an asbestos-linked cancer for which there is currently no standard cure. The Japanese team’s analysis of current global research on gene and virotherapy suggests that treatments that impact a particular genetic abnormality in the DNA of mesothelioma cells may have the greatest impact on the disease. They explain the process this way: “Preclinical studies targeting the…

Mesothelioma a ‘Good Target’ for Gene Therapy
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Mesothelioma a ‘Good Target’ for Gene Therapy

ByAlex Strauss

The authors of an article to be published in the journal Current Treatment Options in Oncology say that malignant mesothelioma is an especially good target for a novel cancer treatment called gene therapy. Mesothelioma is an aggressive cancer of the thin, membranous mesothelial tissue surrounding the lungs, heart or abdomen. Also known as the ‘asbestos cancer’, because of its link to asbestos exposure, mesothelioma is extremely difficult to treat. Based on an evaluation of clinical trials on gene therapy for mesothelioma, the University of Pennsylvania researchers concluded that certain aspects of this disease may make gene therapy a promising option. One mesothelioma characteristic they cited is the tendency for the cancer to remain relatively localized until late in the course…