mesothelioma patients

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    Long-Term Mesothelioma Survivor Used Heat and Chemotherapy

    ByAlex Strauss

    Patients and families struggling with malignant mesothelioma can take some encouragement from the case of a long-time mesothelioma survivor, published recently in a medical journal. The patient, a 61-year-old Japanese man with a five year history of asbestos exposure, was referred to the hospital for chest pain. A computed tomography scan showed thickening on his right pleura (the lining around the lungs) and some small nodules. When doctors did a more thorough investigation using video-assisted thoracoscopy, they found a tumor growing on the muscles of the chest wall. Histopathological evaluation identified it as the sarcomatoid type of malignant pleural mesothelioma. Sarcomatoid is the most aggressive mesothelioma cell type. Because there is no consistent cure for mesothelioma, most clinicians choose to take a…

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    New Program May Predict Mesothelioma Radiotherapy Response

    ByAlex Strauss

    Doctors at a cancer research facility in Germany have recently tested a new way to help clinicians plan and predict outcomes for mesothelioma patients who have radiotherapy. One of the most difficult aspects of treating mesothelioma is creating an individualized treatment plan from the few available treatment options. Because mesothelioma tends to grow rapidly – often claiming lives within a year of diagnosis – it is crucial that doctors quickly choose the therapy combination that is most likely to produce results. Doctors investigating a new prognostic computer program at the German Cancer Research Center in Heidelberg say the program produces a visual representation that may make mesothelioma treatment planning easier. Using population-based dose response curves and the  prescribed dose as the common…

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    Genes Predict Mesothelioma Treatment Response

    ByAlex Strauss

    University of Chicago researchers have released the results of genetic studies they hope will shed some light on why some mesothelioma patients respond well to pemetrexed (Alimta) while others do not. In 2004, pemetrexed was the first medicine approved by the FDA specifically for the treatment of malignant mesothelioma.  It has since also been approved for the treatment for small cell lung cancer.  While it has been hailed as a breakthrough mesothelioma drug, and has become the gold standard for chemotherapeutic treatment of the disease, pemetrexed also has many serious side effects including low white blood cell counts, low blood platelets, anemia, fatigue and nausea. In addition, pemetrexed does not work for all mesothelioma patients.  The ability to predict which patients are…

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    Implantable Catheter May Provide Mesothelioma Symptom Relief

    ByAlex Strauss

    An implantable catheter that allows cancer patients to drain their own excess lung fluid at home may improve quality of life for some mesothelioma patients. A company-sponsored study of the PleurX drainage system conducted in Germany and published in a German medical journal, suggests that the system may be especially beneficial for late-stage mesothelioma patients. Pleural mesothelioma is a malignancy of the pleural lining which surrounds the lungs. In its later stages, mesothelioma often results in pleural effusions, or a build-up of fluid in the space between the inner and outer parts of the pleura. The problem is also common in the later stages of lung cancer and breast cancer. Pleural effusions limit the ability of the lungs to expand, resulting in…

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    New Drug May Slow Spread of Mesothelioma

    ByAlex Strauss

    The first trials of a new drug for mesothelioma show it might be able to help slow the progression of the disease in patients with a certain genetic abnormality. About half of mesothelioma patients have been found to be lacking a gene responsible for suppressing the growth of tumors. The gene, called NF2, produces a protein called merlin which, in turn, regulates another protein called focal adhesion kinase (FAK). When NF2 is inactivated, merlin is lacking and unchecked FAK activity can cause mesothelioma cells to become active and spread. But a multi-center Phase I study of a compound called GSK2256098 suggests that it may be able to slow or even stop the spread of this cancer by restoring the activity of NF2…

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    Special Protein May Impact Mesothelioma Outcome

    ByAlex Strauss

    Mesothelioma patients whose cells express a protein called CD9 are likely to do better and live longer than those who don’t produce this special protein. That news comes out of a laboratory at Hiroshima University in Japan. CD9 is a cell surface glycoprotein involved in cell growth, adhesion and mobility. Its expression is associated with several other types of cancer. To measure the impact CD9 expression has on mesothelioma cells, a research team at the Institute of Biomedical and Health Sciences in Hiroshima first measured what happened to mesothelioma cells in the lab when CD9 expression was knocked down through gene manipulation. In those cell samples, knockdown of CD9 resulted in more mobility for the cancer cells. The team then examined…

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    New Radiotherapy Preserves Healthy Lung in Mesothelioma

    ByAlex Strauss

    A method for targeted delivery of radiotherapy may be safer than conventional radiotherapy for slowing the spread of malignant pleural mesothelioma in patients who have had surgery. Mesothelioma is a virulent cancer caused by exposure to asbestos. Although it can take up to 40 year to develop, when it does, it often spreads quickly across the mesothelium which surrounds the lungs. For most patients, prognosis is poor unless the spread of mesothelioma can be slowed down or stopped. Some patients undergo a surgical procedure called pleurectomy/decortication to remove the diseased pleural lining and as much of the cancerous tissue as possible from the lungs or chest wall. The concern following any cancer surgery is that the cancer can re-grow from cells that…

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    New Criteria May Help Doctors Predict Mesothelioma Survival

    ByAlex Strauss

    A new study suggests that mesothelioma doctors may be at a disadvantage when it comes to accurately assessing how well patients are responding to treatment. To correct the problem, they are proposing changes in the standards by which mesothelioma tumors are measured. A team of medical researchers in the U.S. and Australia examined the accuracy of the standard image-based method for assessing tumor progression and treatment response in mesothelioma. What they found is that the standard method may be off by as much as 34% when it comes to evaluating response and as much as 30% when assessing disease progression. Currently, to decide what it means when a mesothelioma tumor grows or shrinks, doctors measure it using computed tomography (CT) scanning…

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    New Biomarker May Detect Mesothelioma Earlier

    ByAlex Strauss

    Researchers at one of the country’s top cancer centers say they have found an effective way to diagnose mesothelioma earlier. Their findings are published in the latest issue of the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine. Fibulin-3 is a protein that is expressed in the membranes of blood vessels. A single mutation in the gene that encodes fibulin-3 has been implicated in a form of macular degeneration. Now, study author and professor of thoracic oncology Harvey Pass, MD, and his colleagues at New York University’s Langone Medical Center believe that fibulin-3 levels in the blood and pleural effusions (fluid around the lungs) can distinguish mesothelioma patients from those who have been exposed to asbestos but do not have the disease. It…

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    Inhibitor May Reduce Mesothelioma Fluid and Prolong Survival

    ByAlex Strauss

    A drug based on a naturally-occurring cell growth inhibitor may boost the effectiveness of chemotherapy against mesothelioma fluid buildup. The drug, called Endostar, is based on endostatin, a compound derived from human collagen. In the body, endostatin acts as an anti-angiogenic agent, preventing the kind of vascular development that cancer cells need to grow and thrive. By effectively choking off the natural formation of tumor-feeding blood vessels, Endostar aims to ‘starve’ mesothelioma cells and shrink tumors. In an article detailing a recent Endostar case study, researchers in China report on its ability to relieve one of the most life-limiting symptoms of mesothelioma – excessive fluid buildup. As mesothelioma cells spread across internal membranes, such as the pleura (around the lungs) or peritoneum…