Ingredient in Vinegar Kills Mesothelioma Cells in Minutes
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Ingredient in Vinegar Kills Mesothelioma Cells in Minutes

ByAlex Strauss

There is new evidence that the primary ingredient in vinegar might eventually be used to help fight deadly malignant mesothelioma. Acetic acid is the colorless organic compound that gives vinegar its pungent smell and distinctive sour taste. It makes up 3 to 5% of vinegar. (The remaining 95-97% is water) In its pure form, acetic acid is used in the production of cellulose acetate for photographic film and polyvinyl acetate for wood glue, as well as some synthetic fibers and fabrics. It is also used as a food additive to regulate the acidity of certain foods and condiments.   Acetic acid was added into the cell cultures at different concentrations and for different lengths of time. The researchers then analyzed…

In Search of a Better Mesothelioma Blood Test
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In Search of a Better Mesothelioma Blood Test

ByAlex Strauss

A team from the Center of Molecular Medicine in Bochum, Germany tested the blood of 43 male mesothelioma patients along with 52 control subjects that had been exposed to asbestos but hadn’t developed mesothelioma. Blood was analyzed for the presence of mesothelin, a protein that is the most common blood-based mesothelioma biomarker, and miR-103a-3p, a microRNA gene. When the team attempted to identify the mesothelioma patients by mesothelin levels alone, they were able to correctly identify 74% of the sick patients. At the same time, the mesothelin-only blood test correctly ruled out mesothelioma in 85% of the healthy control subjects. The micro RNA gene proved to be a more accurate identifier of mesothelioma. Using the microRNA gene as their only…

BAP1 Mutation May Bode Well for Mesothelioma Survival
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BAP1 Mutation May Bode Well for Mesothelioma Survival

ByAlex Strauss

A new study has some good news and some bad news for people who carry the BAP1 genetic mutation. The bad news is that they have a significantly higher risk of contracting malignant mesothelioma and several other types of cancer than people without this genetic mutation. The good news is that, people with the BAP1 mutation who do get mesothelioma, have a seven-fold increase in long-term survival over mesothelioma patients without this genetic anomaly.   Now, a multicenter study involving the University of Hawaii Cancer Center, the Samuel Oschin Comprehensive Cancer Institute-Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles, the Hofstra-North Shore LIJ School of Medicine in New York, and the New York University Langone Medical Center finds that BAP1 mesothelioma may actually be more survivable….

Component in Spice May Help Slow Mesothelioma Growth
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Component in Spice May Help Slow Mesothelioma Growth

ByAlex Strauss

Yet another study has demonstrated the potential mesothelioma-fighting properties of curcumin, an anti-inflammatory polyphenol that is the primary component in the spice turmeric. The latest study suggests that applying curcumin along with cancer-fighting peptides may increase the levels of a protein inhibitor that can slow the progression of mesothelioma. Mesothelioma is usually caused by exposure to the mineral asbestos. Tens of thousands of people contract this aggressive cancer annually. Many of them worked in industries that used asbestos heavily before it was revealed to cause mesothelioma. Cancer researchers around the world continue to work on a way to slow the cancer, which often claims the lives of patients within a year of diagnosis. The latest study was conducted by doctors…

Vitamin E Analog Inhibits Blood Vessel Growth in Mesothelioma Cells
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Vitamin E Analog Inhibits Blood Vessel Growth in Mesothelioma Cells

ByAlex Strauss

Scientists say a form of Vitamin E may be able to help fight malignant mesothelioma by limiting the growth of tumor-feeding blood vessels. Researchers with Toyo University’s Graduate School of Life Sciences in Japan recently released a study on the redox-silent tocotrienol (Vitamin E) analog 6-O-carboxypropyl-α-tocotrienol – called T3E – and its impact on mesothelioma. Although previous studies have found T3E to have powerful anti-cancer properties, the goal of the new study was to better understand its mechanism in mesothelioma cells. According to a report in Biological and Pharmaceutical Bulletin, T3E worked against mesothelioma cells by inhibiting the expression of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), a signaling protein that supplies fresh oxygen to cells by stimulating the growth of new…

Industrial Chemical Found to Raise Mesothelioma Risk in Rats
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Industrial Chemical Found to Raise Mesothelioma Risk in Rats

ByAlex Strauss

There is new evidence that a chemical used to produce flexible films like Saran Wrap may increase the risk of developing malignant mesothelioma by damaging the immune system and increasing inflammation. About 80 percent of mesothelioma cases are the result of exposure to asbestos, a fibrous mineral once popular as a flame retardant and insulator. But a newly-published study suggests that an industrial chemical called vinylidene chloride (VDC) may account for a portion of the remaining 20 percent of non-asbestos mesothelioma cases. NIH scientists in North Carolina’s Research Triangle Park conducted the 2-year study as part of a National Toxicology Program effort to determine the cancer risk associated with certain chemicals. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, VDC is used…

Mesothelioma Remains a Serious Risk for Shipbreaking Workers
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Mesothelioma Remains a Serious Risk for Shipbreaking Workers

ByAlex Strauss

Taiwanese researchers who conducted one of the few long-term studies of cancer among shipbreaking workers are calling for more “preventive measures” to protect these workers from deadly malignant mesothelioma. Mesothelioma is the most serious of a group of diseases caused by exposure to asbestos. Fire- and heat-resistant asbestos was commonly used to insulate ships starting in the 1920s, long before its health risks became public knowledge. People who now work to dismantle and demolish these old ships run the risk of encountering crumbling asbestos and raising their lifetime risk of mesothelioma. Noting that shipbreaking remains one of the world’s most dangerous jobs, public health and occupational medicine experts from several Taiwanese universities studied cancer incidence among more than 4,000 shipbreaking…

Mesothelioma Risk is Rarely Outlived
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Mesothelioma Risk is Rarely Outlived

ByAlex Strauss

If you have been exposed to asbestos, whether at work or in the home, you may never outlive your risk of developing malignant mesothelioma. That unsettling finding comes from a recently-published medical stud conducted by researchers in Australia and Italy. Mesothelioma has a particularly long latency period, meaning it is not uncommon for it to take decades for this aggressive cancer to develop. To determine if asbestos-exposed individuals can ever consider themselves out of danger, the researchers compiled and analyzed data from eight separate previous studies on the relationship between asbestos exposure and mesothelioma development. Six of the studies focused on people with occupational exposure to the deadly toxin and the remaining two included people with residential asbestos exposure. Among…

Test May Distinguish Mesothelioma from Benign Conditions
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Test May Distinguish Mesothelioma from Benign Conditions

ByAlex Strauss

One of the biggest challenges for patients and clinicians dealing with malignant pleural mesothelioma is just getting a definitive diagnosis. Although mesothelioma is closely associated with asbestos, symptoms may not show up until decades after exposure, making it difficult to link the cause and effect. When symptoms such as chest pain and shortness of breath do occur, they are often attributed to other, less serious causes. But a recent article in Lung Cancer focuses on a promising new way to help distinguish mesothelioma from other conditions with similar characteristics. Researchers at the University of Chicago and cancer centers in the UK, France, and Japan say a glucose transport protein called GLUT-1 was present in half of the epithelioid mesothelioma cells…

Ape Virus Shrinks Mesothelioma Tumors in Lab
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Ape Virus Shrinks Mesothelioma Tumors in Lab

ByAlex Strauss

A virus that causes leukemia in gibbon apes may have the power to help fight malignant mesothelioma in people. Gibbon ape leukemia virus (GALV) has been tested for years as a viral vector, a carrier of therapeutic genetic information, in the treatment of various human illnesses, including cancer. A new study in Japan compared GALV with a leukemia virus derived from mice to see which carrier communicated most efficiently with mesothelioma cells. While both types of viruses replicated in most of the mesothelioma cell lines tested, the mouse-derived virus was not effective in a mesothelioma cell line called ACC-MESO-1. In this cell line, only the GALV spread efficiently both in culture and in mice that had been given human mesothelioma…