mesothelioma

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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…

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    BAP1 Mutation Unlikely to Trigger Sporadic Mesothelioma

    ByAlex Strauss

    But researchers at the Clinic of Oncology at the University Hospital of Zurich and University Hospitals in Leuven, Belgium say they have evidence to show that BAP1 mutations account for only a tiny percentage of sporadic mesothelioma cases. Mesothelioma is normally associated with exposure to asbestos dust and previous studies have found that people with the BAP1 mutation are more susceptible to cancer-causing effects of asbestos. Twenty-three percent of mesothelioma tumor specimens have been found to have a mutated BAP1 gene. But some cases of mesothelioma appear to arise “sporadically”, with no history of asbestos exposure.  Researchers around the world have long been trying to pinpoint the reasons these sporadic mesothelioma cases develop in an effort to prevent and/or treat…

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    Are Women More Vulnerable to Mesothelioma from Environmental Asbestos?

    ByAlex Strauss

    Although the study did find an elevated number of mesothelioma cases among plant workers, the biggest mesothelioma burden was among their spouses and other women who lived in the region. Almost half of the mesothelioma cases linked to the factory could be attributed to environmental, rather than occupational, exposure. Researchers with the Department of Preventive Medicine in Milan and the National Heart & Lung Institute at Imperial College London calculated mesothelioma incidence connected to an asbestos cement factory that operated in Broni, Italy from 1932 to 1993. Their goal was to compare the percentage of cases among the workers themselves with the number of cases among their families and those who simply lived near the plant. Data was collected between…

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    Dusty Job May Raise the Risk of Mesothelioma

    ByAlex Strauss

    A new study on drywall sanding finds that people who do it – from specialists to do-it-yourselfers – could be exposed to asbestos fibers in excess of current safe limits. Until the mid-1970s, the compound used to seal up the joints between wall boards contained chrysotile asbestos, a mineral designed to increase strength and durability and to minimize fire risk.  However, many people are now suffering the effects of earlier exposures and others are still being exposed by working in older buildings. In an effort to quantify the risks, researchers with ENVIRON International Corporation in Chicago collected information about drywall dust exposures by surveying experienced contractors, visiting job sites, and reviewing other studies on the subject. They then applied mathematical…

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    Chemotherapy May be Underutilized for Mesothelioma

    ByAlex Strauss

    Doctors from the Asbestos Diseases Research Institute and Sydney Medical School reached their conclusions by comparing data on mesothelioma patients and their tumor characteristics with evidence-based mesothelioma treatment guidelines. They used special “decision analysis software” to calculate what they say is the optimal utilization rate for chemotherapy in mesothelioma. “Chemotherapy is recommended at least once during the disease trajectory in 65% of malignant pleural mesothelioma patients,” writes author Stephen Chuan-Hao Kao. According to Dr. Kao and his colleagues, that optimal rate is relatively close to what is being done for mesothelioma patients in Canada where 61% of patients got chemotherapy between 2003 and 2005 and in Australia where the rate was 54% between 2007 and 2009. Unfortunately, the Australian study…

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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….

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    Fine Needle Biopsy: An Easier Way to Diagnose Mesothelioma?

    ByAlex Strauss

    IExamining the tissue from a suspected tumor under a microscope is currently the only way to definitively diagnose suspected mesothelioma. But doctors at the University of Catania say cutting-needle biopsy, the pleural biopsy technique used by most surgeons, may be unnecessarily painful for patients. In their response to a recent published article on the subject in the journal Chest, Dr. Marco Sperandeo and colleagues present the case for what they say is a less traumatic type of biopsy – thoracic ultrasound-guided fine needle aspiration. According to the Italian researchers,  “These tools, quite neglected, are complementary to CT imaging in patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) or lung cancer (LC), are less traumatic, and are equally or more successful, with minimal…

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    Vegetable Compound May Help Treat Mesothelioma with Fewer Side Effects

    ByAlex Strauss

    Phenethyl isothiocyanate (PEITC) is a naturally occurring isothiocyanate. Brussels sprouts, watercress, radishes and capers all get their characteristic flavors from isothiocyanates. Noting that PEITC has shown promising results against several other types of cancer, doctors at Universite Nantes tested it alone and in combination with cisplatin on nine lines of pleural mesothelioma and on healthy mesothelial cells. Some of the cells had been co-cultured with M2 macrophages, immune system cells that promote cell proliferation. Both PEITC and cisplatin were toxic to mesothelioma cells and that toxicity increased as the dose increased. But together, the two compounds were even more powerful, not only increasing each other’s anti-cancer effects but preventing the emergence of treatment resistant mesothelioma cells. Just as importantly, the…

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    PET/CT and Mesothelioma Staging: Better Imaging Techniques are Needed

    ByAlex Strauss

    Scientists with the Institute of Diagnostic and interventional Radiology at the University Hospital of Zurich have just released a new study detailing the benefits and limitations of PET/CT. Positron Emission Tomography (PET) is a nuclear medicine imaging technique that produces three-dimensional pictures of functional processes in the body. When combined with computed tomography (CT), which uses x-rays and a computer to produce cross-sectional images, PET can give clinicians a more complete picture of cancer growth and stage. To determine the value of PET/CT in the staging of mesothelioma, the Swiss team analyzed the cases of 62 pleural mesothelioma patients who were undergoing chemotherapy prior to a planned surgery. Since the goal of this induction chemotherapy is to shrink tumors to…

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    Mesothelioma Subtype Predicts Poor Survival Odds

    ByAlex Strauss

    Histological subtyping, which involves classifying mesothelioma types by certain microscopic features, plays a crucial role in diagnosis, treatment, and determining life expectancy in malignant pleural mesothelioma. The three major subtypes of pleural mesothelioma are epithelioid, sarcomatoid, and biphasic. While all three types carry a poor prognosis, epithelioid mesothelioma, which accounts for 50 to 70 percent of cases, usually responds better to treatment than the other two types. But a new published study suggests that that is not always the case. Doctors at the University of Zagreb School of Medicine in Croatia say there is a subtype of epithelioid mesothelioma that carries as poor a prognosis as the sarcomatoid and biphasic types. To reach that conclusion, the team analyzed biopsy specimens and…