Mesothelioma, Asbestos, and Survival
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Mesothelioma, Asbestos, and Survival

ByAlex Strauss

Mesothelioma is a cancer directly linked to asbestos exposure. Now researchers are discovering that the extent of that exposure can significantly affect how long a patient survives, and they’re finding that some people may be more susceptible to the effects of asbestos than others. Of all the cancers, mesothelioma is among the most deadly—most patients survive for less than one year. Researchers have been trying to prolong patients’ lives, in part by learning more about the disease and how it progresses. Because the vast majority of mesothelioma cases can be attributed to asbestos exposure, knowing how that exposure contributes to disease progression is an important component of research. “One crucial part of trying to advance our understanding of a serious disease like…

Mesothelioma and the Immune System
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Mesothelioma and the Immune System

ByAlex Strauss

The presence of an immune cell is associated with better prognosis for patients undergoing extrapleural pneumonectomy for malignant pleural mesothelioma is the conclusion of a recent article published in the Journal of Thoracic Cardiovascular Surgery.1 Canadian researchers tested mesothelioma samples removed from 32 patients (28 men and 4 women). The patients ranged in age from 21 to 74 (median age was 59). The researchers were looking for the numbers of specific types of immune cells. They then compared this data to the survival of the patients to see if these cell counts had any relationship with survival. They found that one specific type of immune cell called CD8+ was associated with better prognosis. The study found that higher levels of…

Mesothelioma and Virotherapy
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Mesothelioma and Virotherapy

ByAlex Strauss

A recently published study* suggests that virotherapy may be a viable treatment option for mesothelioma, as well as for other cancers. Virotherapy is the use of biotechnology to convert viruses into cancer-fighting agents by reprogramming viruses to only attack cancerous cells An agent of change for patients with “no real treatment alternatives” “Normally, viruses replicate to increase their number, and by virtue of that process, healthy cells are killed,” explains David T. Curiel, MD, PhD, director of the Division of Human Gene Therapy at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. “Virotherapy is about engineering viruses so that they replicate only in tumor cells – and kill only tumor cells.” In order to engineer an effective virus, scientists must first understand…

Mesothelioma and Molecular Pathways
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Mesothelioma and Molecular Pathways

ByAlex Strauss

A recently published review* looks at some of the molecular signaling pathways currently being investigated in mesothelioma. The challenge of developing disease-specific treatments. The goal is to develop more – and more effective – treatments, says co-author Dan J. Raz, MD, of the University of California, San Francisco’s Division of Thoracic Surgery. “The options for mesothelioma patients have primarily been surgery, conventional chemotherapy, and radiation therapy,” Raz says. “But even when a combination of treatments is used, the outcomes aren’t great.” While several drugs have been approved for treating mesothelioma, there aren’t a lot – largely because researchers simply haven’t been able to conduct many clinical drug trials. This is in part because, with some 5,000 Americans diagnosed with the…

Mesothelioma and Gene Expression
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Mesothelioma and Gene Expression

ByAlex Strauss

A recently published study has revealed for the first time a connection between malignant mesothelioma and the overexpression of a particular genetic protein. In an effort to better understand this particularly deadly form of cancer on a cellular level, a team from the University of California, San Francisco, Comprehensive Cancer Center sought to identify genetic material in mesothelioma cells that occurs at higher levels than the same material does in non-cancerous cells (that is overexpressed). What the scientists discovered could be an important step in developing treatments that target mesothelioma cells in their earliest stages. A strong and consistent clue “In the biological sense, we don’t know why mesothelioma develops or why it’s so aggressive,” says primary investigator Jae Kim,…

Asbestos a Deadly Carcinogen
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Asbestos a Deadly Carcinogen

ByAlex Strauss

Asbestos can cause mesothelioma, lung cancer, and asbestosis. Yet, companies that manufatured and used asbestos hid the truth about this carcinogen from the public and their own employees. The result of this shameful behavior is that thousands of healthy people of all ages have become stricken with debilitating and deadly diseases that could have been avoided. For example in the early 1940’s, the president of a major asbestos manufacturing company said that the managers of another company were “a bunch of fools for notifying employees who had asbestosis.” When one of the people in attendance asked, “Do you mean to tell me you would let them work until they drop dead?” According to deposition testimony, the response was, “Yes. We save…