mesothelioma

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    Mesothelioma Nurses Ready for New Cases in Australia

    ByAlex Strauss

    Australia is bracing for an expected new wave of mesothelioma cases in the next decade and the Lung Foundation of Australia is taking action now to get ready. The Foundation has paid for ten nurses from around the country to receive specialized training in helping patients and families cope with mesothelioma. The nurses, who have recently completed the training, are now equipped to lead treatment planning for these complex cancer patients and to help other nurses do the same. Pleural mesothelioma is an aggressive cancer that occurs in the lining around the lungs. It is caused by exposure to asbestos dust, a toxin that was once alarmingly prevalent in Australia where it was mined and heavily used in construction. Because…

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    Mesothelioma Chemotherapy Could Get a Boost from Altered Virus

    ByAlex Strauss

    An altered form of a virus that typically causes respiratory illness may help boost the effectiveness of chemotherapy for mesothelioma. In a study published in the Journal of Thoracic Oncology, researchers found that deleting a gene from adenoviruses made the drugs pemetrexed and cisplatin more cytotoxic to mesothelioma cells in the lab. In its unaltered state, the adenovirus is the virus most closely associated with respiratory problems, ranging from the common cold to pneumonia, croup and bronchitis.  It can also cause gastroenteritis, cystitis, and conjunctivitis. However, when it is altered in the lab by removing a particular gene, it can become a powerful ally in the fight against hard-to-treat cancers like mesothelioma. In the latest study, researchers first deleted the E1B-55kD…

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    Mesothelioma Victims’ Victory in Pennsylvania

    ByAlex Strauss

    Workers and their families have won a victory in Pennsylvania after the state Supreme Court ruled that they could sue former employers over late-manifesting industrial diseases like mesothelioma. The decision focused on a provision in Pennsylvania’s Workers’ Compensation Act that says workers cannot sue an employer if their occupational disease occurred more than 300 weeks after their on-the-job exposure. While many occupational injuries and diseases occur within weeks or months of exposure to a toxin, asbestos diseases like mesothelioma are a notable exception. Believed to be caused by chronic irritation from inhaled or ingested asbestos fibers, mesothelioma does not usually begin to cause symptoms until at least a decade after exposure. Expressing the opinion of the majority, Supreme Court Justice…

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    Chemical in Wine May Improve Mesothelioma Treatment

    ByAlex Strauss

    There’s new evidence that a compound found in red wine may help improve the effectiveness of chemotherapy treatment for malignant pleural mesothelioma. Last year, a team of Korean researchers released the world’s first study on the mesothelioma-fighting power of resveratrol, a natural phenol derived from the skin of red grapes and found in red wine and grape juice. Now, the same team says resveratrol also appears to enhance the chemosensitivity of malignant mesothelioma cells. Study author Yoon-Jin Lee and colleagues discovered  a synergistic cancer-fighting effect in mesothelioma cells treated with both resveratrol and clofarabine, a prescription drug often used to treat acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Together, resveratrol and clofarabine “induced a strong cytotoxic effect” by influencing levels of the tumor suppressor,…

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    Mesothelioma Blood Test May Be Possible

    ByAlex Strauss

    An international team of researchers is studying the proteins found on the surface of cancer cells in an effort to improve mesothelioma diagnosis. The team, made up of scientists from the US, Switzerland, Italy and Chile, has just published their findings on a new kind of test to identify protein-derived mesothelioma biomarkers in blood serum. Mesothelioma is an aggressive cancer of the membranes around organs. Because the most common mesothelioma biomarker, mesothelin, is also overproduced by other kinds of cancer cells, it has only limited diagnostic value. A test to identify a set of proteins produced specifically by mesothelioma cells could greatly improve diagnostic accuracy. Led by Ferdinando Cerciello and Bernd Wollscheid of the Institute of Molecular Systems Biology in…

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    Mesothelioma Claims Another American Actor

    ByAlex Strauss

    Another American actor has died of malignant mesothelioma. Veteran character actor Ed Lauter, who worked with such prominent names as Clint Eastwood, George C. Scott, Burt Reynolds and Tom Cruise, died this week in Los Angeles. According to the Associated Press, one of Lauter’s most notable roles was that of a prison guard in the 1974 Burt Reynolds film “The Longest Yard”. He also appeared in Alfred Hitchcock’s “The Family Plot”, “Born on the Fourth of July” with Tom Cruise, and most recently played a butler in the 2011 Oscar-winning film “The Artist”. Lauter’s television appearances included “The Office”, “ER”, “Murder She Wrote” and “The Rockford Files”. Although little is being said about the origin of Lauter’s mesothelioma, an aggressive…

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    Needle Biopsy “Simple, Safe & Accurate” for Mesothelioma

    ByAlex Strauss

    Mesothelioma researchers in China say a biopsy method that involves a single skin puncture can produce good diagnostic results for mesothelioma patients with little pain or risk. The study focused on percutaneous (through the skin) biopsy in patients who had unexplained fluid buildup or swelling in their abdomens. Abdominal distension and fluid buildup (called ascites) can be signs of peritoneal mesothelioma, a rare but aggressive cancer of the abdominal lining caused by exposure to asbestos. Peritoneal mesothelioma accounts for less than 30% of all mesothelioma cases. Because the symptoms may be vague and often develop many decades after asbestos exposure, peritoneal mesothelioma can be especially challenging to diagnose.  Misdiagnosis and under-diagnosis are not uncommon. In the newest study on percutaneous…

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    Last Man Sentenced in Asbestos Dumping Scheme

    ByAlex Strauss

    The U.S. Justice Department has announced that a New Jersey man will spend 15 months in prison for his part in a scheme to illegally dump thousands of tons of asbestos-contaminated construction debris – putting others at risk for mesothelioma. He was the last person to be sentenced in the conspiracy. Asbestos is the cause of mesothelioma, a difficult to treat and aggressive cancer.  At the height of its popularity from the 1940s to the early 1970s, asbestos was common in building products ranging from floor and ceiling tiles to joint compound, concrete and shingles. It is still present in tens of thousands of older homes and buildings today. In an effort to protect workers and the public from mesothelioma…

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    Aspirin Derivative No Match for Mesothelioma

    ByAlex Strauss

    It may work wonders for aches and pains but apparently the ‘wonder drug’ is no match for the asbestos-linked cancer, malignant mesothelioma. A number of previous studies have suggested a benefit from aspirin for some types of cancer. But Italian scientists testing the aspirin derivative [2-acetoxy-(2-propynyl) benzoate] hexacarbonyldicobalt (Co-ASS) and its analogue hexacarbonyl [μ-(2-ethylphenyl) methanol] dicobalt (Co-EPM) against malignant pleural mesothelioma cells found that both molecules function better as non-steroidal anti-inflammatory (NSAID) agents than as anti-tumor drugs. The researchers tested Co-ASS and Co-EPM against mesothelioma cells of both the more common epithelioid and rarer sarcomatoid types. The most encouraging results were seen with the sarcomatoid cells. Against this cell type, Co-ASS was found to be more potent than either Co-EPM or…

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    Inflammation Both “Friend and Foe” in Mesothelioma

    ByAlex Strauss

    An immune system response that causes mesothelioma symptoms such as fever, fatigue, and weight loss may also be helpful to clinicians as a way to find and treat the disease. Scientists with The Asbestos Diseases Research Institute in Sydney, Australia make that case that both systemic inflammation (throughout the body) and at the site of a tumor – has long been associated with mesothelioma and other cancers. Inflammation results when the body attempts to address the imbalances of cancer by producing more of certain immune system cells. Some inflammatory markers, such as CD+8 T-cells and C-reactive protein, have been linked to better prognosis in mesothelioma. Other inflammatory markers, such as certain macrophages and a high neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio, can signal the…