Clinical Trial Participation: Perspectives from Mesothelioma Patients and Caregivers
| |

Clinical Trial Participation: Perspectives from Mesothelioma Patients and Caregivers

Clinical trial participation is a common topic for mesothelioma patients and their caregivers. Treatment options for mesothelioma are increasing. This is a direct result of the number of clinical trials available to patients. Yet, little is known about patients’ and relatives’ feelings about trial participation. A new study provides insight into people’s experiences of clinical trial participation. They also report what factors influence decision-making. Scientists interviewed twelve people, comprising five mesothelioma patients and seven relatives. They identified four themes related to the experience of mesothelioma. First, is the physicality of the disease. Second, the patient’s quality of life. Third, uncertainty and risk are associated with mesothelioma. And fourth, planning for an unpredictable future. A further theme included attitudes on clinical…

Protein Marker Linked to Prognosis in Peritoneal Mesothelioma
| | | | | | |

Protein Marker Linked to Prognosis in Peritoneal Mesothelioma

A cellular marker that helps tell cancer cells to replicate may be used to predict treatment outcomes in people with malignant peritoneal mesothelioma. That conclusion comes from a group of researchers at Australia’s University of New South Wales. The researchers tested tissue samples from 42 mesothelioma patients for the presence of Ki67, a protein associated with cell proliferation. According to the authors, Ki67 has been widely used as a prognostic indicator in other types of cancer, but has not been tested in mesothelioma. The researchers divided the tissue samples into two groups based on their level of Ki67 expression. Those with a Ki67 expression of less than 25% were put in the low category and all samples above that were…

Treating Mesothelioma with Curcumin: Success May Be Predictable
| | | | | | | | |

Treating Mesothelioma with Curcumin: Success May Be Predictable

Clinicians may be a step closer to being able to use curcumin to combat aggressive malignant pleural mesothelioma. Curcumin is the plant polyphenol that gives turmeric its yellow hue and spicy flavor. It has anti-inflammatory properties and has been shown to inhibit the growth of mesothelioma cells from animal models in the laboratory. Now, for the first time, researchers in Australia say they have successfully done the same thing with human cells taken from their own mesothelioma patients. Researcher Sonja Klebe, an Associate Professor at Flinders Medical Centre in South Australia where the new research was conducted, says the breakthrough will allow doctors to predict whether or not a certain mesothelioma patient will benefit from treatment with curcumin. The research…

Predicting Long-Term Mesothelioma Survival After Surgery
| | | | | | | |

Predicting Long-Term Mesothelioma Survival After Surgery

Most mesothelioma  patients and their families have heard the poor survival statistics associated with this aggressive cancer. But two new studies on two different types of mesothelioma suggest that long term survival is possible with surgery and can even be predictable. The first study was a multi-center analysis conducted in Italy between 2000 and 2010. Researchers retrospectively reviewed the cases of 468 malignant pleural mesothelioma patients who underwent extrapleural pneumonectomy – a radical surgery that involves removing the diseased pleural lining as well as the closest lung. Since most pleural mesothelioma patients die within a year of diagnosis, the research team classified those who lived three years or longer as “long term survivors.” A total of 107 mesothelioma patients (22.9%) fell into…

Elderly Mesothelioma Patients Need “Less Toxic” Treatment Options
| | | | | | |

Elderly Mesothelioma Patients Need “Less Toxic” Treatment Options

A new study of more than 9,000 people suggests that elderly mesothelioma patients would likely live longer if treatments could be found that are “less toxic” than current chemotherapy. A European team of cancer researchers analyzed mesothelioma treatment trends by location and by age group and found that younger patients are more likely to have – and to benefit from – chemotherapy for mesothelioma. Although older mesothelioma patients often have chemotherapy, too, they are more likely to die from treatment-related complications. The study focused on three countries with high mesothelioma rates – Belgium, the Netherlands, and England. It included a total of 900 mesothelioma patients from the Belgian Cancer Registry, 2309 from the Netherlands Cancer Registry, and 5808 from the…

Surgery Remains “Cornerstone” of Mesothelioma Treatment
| | | | | |

Surgery Remains “Cornerstone” of Mesothelioma Treatment

A major new study of more than 14,000 mesothelioma patients diagnosed between 1973 and 2009 finds that surgery appears to have a greater impact on survival than any other form of mesothelioma treatment. Researchers with Mount Sinai Medical Center, North Shore/Long Island Jewish Health System, and Hofstra School of Medicine in New York analyzed data from SEER (Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results), a large national database of cancer patients. Only patients with confirmed malignant pleural mesothelioma were included in the study. The researchers divided 14,228 mesothelioma cases by age, sex race, diagnosis year, stage, cancer-directed surgery, radiation and other factors to determine which ones appear to have the most influence on mesothelioma survival. When compared to having no treatment, cancer-directed…

Skin Cancer Drug Produces Exceptional Results in New Mesothelioma Trial
| | | | |

Skin Cancer Drug Produces Exceptional Results in New Mesothelioma Trial

A drug approved to treat skin cancer has produced what researchers are calling “unprecedented” control of malignant pleural mesothelioma. As announced at the annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research which met in Philadelphia in April, pembrolizumab either stopped tumor growth or even reversed it in more than three quarters of the mesothelioma patients tested. Pembrolizumab (brand name Keytruda) is a monoclonal antibody designed to block a cell surface receptor called PD-1. As part of a phase 1B clinical trial known as KEYNOTE-028, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania gave the drug to 25 mesothelioma patients between March and December 2014. These patients all had tumors that tested positive for PD-1 expression. Most had already been through at…

Light-Based Therapy Extends Mesothelioma Survival
| | | | | | |

Light-Based Therapy Extends Mesothelioma Survival

The newest research on photodynamic therapy appears to confirm what multiple recent studies have found – that PDT is a safe and effective way to prolong survival in pleural mesothelioma patients after surgery. A new meta-analysis of 16 studies on PDT for mesothelioma finds that the technique efficiently kills mesothelioma cells left behind after lung-sparing pleurectomy. For each of the studies, the French research team analyzed the specific PDT technique used, the level of toxicity, and the effect on survival in patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma. “After two decades of clinical studies, intrapleural photodynamic therapy after surgical resection became a safe treatment that significantly improved the survival of patients,” reports lead researcher Camille Munck of Inserm in Loos, France. Mesothelioma…

New Regimen May Help Mesothelioma Patients Avoid Chemotherapy Skin Rash

New Regimen May Help Mesothelioma Patients Avoid Chemotherapy Skin Rash

A single dose of medicine prior to chemotherapy may be enough to ward off an uncomfortable side effect for mesothelioma patients, giving them one less thing to worry about prior to treatment. Doctors from four different US medical centers just released their findings on a new and potentially easier protocol for preventing pemetrexed-related skin rash. Pemetrexed (Alimta) is the most popular drug for malignant pleural mesothelioma and remains the only drug approved specifically for this rare cancer.  It is also used to treat non-small cell lung cancer. Most patients on pemetrexed experience side effects, one of which is an itchy, blistering skin rash. While the rash is not usually serious, in some rare cases it can progress and even be…

UK Study Finds Location Influences Mesothelioma Survival
| | | | | | |

UK Study Finds Location Influences Mesothelioma Survival

An analysis of the largest ever study group of mesothelioma patients suggests that survival may depend largely on how much experience a patient’s local hospital has with the disease. The study was conducted at six different hospitals or universities in England and included 8,740 mesothelioma patients whose data was collected for the UK National Lung Cancer Audit. The group represented about 80 percent of the total mesothelioma cases in the region between 2008 and 2012. Most of the patients (83%) were men and their median age was 73. The researchers found significant differences in the way mesothelioma cases were handled in different parts of the country. These differences appeared to have an impact on mesothelioma outcomes. For instance, while performance…