mesothelioma treatments

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    Mesothelioma Vaccine Enters Phase 2 Testing

    ByAlex Strauss

    The makers of a new cancer vaccine say they have enrolled the first mesothelioma patients in a study that will combine their drug with chemotherapy against this virulent cancer. The drug, currently known as CRS-207, is manufactured by Aduro Bio Tech, Inc. According to a company press release, CRS-207 is based on an attenuated (made less potent) version of Listeria monocytogenes, bacteria found in soil and water than can cause the food borne illness, Listeriosis. To make CRS-207, scientists at Aduro genetically modified the Listeria monocytogenes in order to produce a powerful immune response against cells that produce mesothelin. Mesothelin is a tumor-associated antigen produced by several types of cancer cells, including mesothelioma cells. Because it works in conjunction with the body’s…

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    Mesothelioma Patients May Be Low in Antioxidants

    ByAlex Strauss

    New research suggests that the antioxidant vitamins found in abundance in fruits and vegetable may have a protective effect against malignant pleural mesothelioma. The news comes from a University in Turkey, where environmentally-induced mesothelioma is alarmingly common due to high erionite content in some small towns. Erionite is a naturally-occurring mineral that is structurally similar to asbestos, the primary cause of mesothelioma around the world. Erionite not only exists in the soil in these Turkish towns, but is also incorporated into hundreds of homes built from erionite-laden rocks. In an effort to evaluate whether or not certain key antioxidant vitamins might protect people against the deadly cancer, Turkish researchers enrolled 160 subjects, 42 of whom had been diagnosed with malignant pleural…

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    T-Cells Can Predict Mesothelioma Treatment Success

    ByAlex Strauss

    Mesothelioma patients whose T-cell counts bounce back quickly after a round of chemotherapy have a better chance of survival. They are also most likely to benefit from the addition of immunotherapy. That’s the conclusion of a British study looking for prognostic indicators in mesothelioma patients undergoing a combination of chemotherapy. Noting that there is increased interest in pairing chemotherapy with immunotherapy, the group was also looking for a method of determining who would benefit most from the combination. Chemotherapy is the most common first-line treatment for mesothelioma. It involves flooding the body with a drug or combination of drugs designed to destroy cancer cells. Immunotherapy involves “programming” the immune system to recognize cancer cells as foreign invaders and attack them the…

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    Inhaling Mesothelioma Drug Soon Ready for Patient Trials

    ByAlex Strauss

    Mesothelioma patients may eventually be inhaling their treatment medications instead of receiving them intravenously if current research in Scotland goes according to plan. Scientists at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow are experimenting with a method for delivering chemotherapy medicine directly into the lungs where mesothelioma is triggered. Although mesothelioma is not a lung cancer, it is usually the result of inhalation or ingestion of airborne asbestos fibers.  In pleural mesothelioma, inhaled fibers lodge deep in the lung tissue, setting up a cycle of chronic irritation and inflammation that eventually affects the membrane around the lungs. As mesothelioma spreads over the pleural membrane, it can impede the lungs’ ability to expand and may eventually spread into the lungs or other organs….

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    Mesothelioma Patients Lack Psychosocial Support

    ByAlex Strauss

    Most newly diagnosed mesothelioma patients need more psychosocial support than they are getting, according to a British sociologist. Sara Arber is a professor in the University of Surrey’s School of Health and Social Care in Surrey, England.  To conduct a study on the psychological and social impact of a mesothelioma diagnosis, Arber and colleague L. Spencer conducted face-to-face interviews with 10 mesothelioma patients within three months of their diagnoses. After analyzing the data, the two concluded that many newly diagnosed mesothelioma patients feel uncertainty and a lack of control surrounding their illness, leading to what they call “emotional, physical and psychosocial” distress.  They report that mesothelioma patients they talked to tended to feel like they were hearing “all bad news” from their…

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    New Chemo Research: Good and Bad News for Mesothelioma

    ByAlex Strauss

    Three new published studies contain a mixed bag of findings on the effectiveness of chemotherapy for mesothelioma. In a study designed to help doctors predict which mesothelioma patients will respond to pemetrexed-based chemotherapy, the most common first-line treatment, results were promising. Pemetrexed works, in part, by preventing mesothelioma cells from synthesizing several key enzymes, including thymidylate synthase (TS). Scientists involved in the multi-center pemetrexed study found that, as predicted, high levels of TS during therapy were a sign that the drug was not working to fight a patient’s mesothelioma. In a separate cellular process, pemetrexed is converted into a more effective form by folylpoly-y-glutamate synthetase (FPGS).  In the same study, patients who had high FPGS expression saw better mesothelioma tumor response…

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    Plant Compound May Slow Mesothelioma Tumors

    ByAlex Strauss

    A natural compound found in red onions, tea and the skins of red apples may play a valuable role in the ongoing fight against malignant mesothelioma. These and other fruits, vegetables, leaves and grains contain quercetin, a flavonoid which has been found to induce apoptosis (cell death) in certain types of cancer cells. Now, for the first time, researchers in Korea have tested the compound’s effectiveness against pleural mesothelioma, an aggressive asbestos-related cancer with no known cure.  Using cultured mesothelioma cells for testing, the scientists treated the samples with 20-80 µM of quercetin.  The compound reportedly reduced the viability of the mesothelioma cells while, at the same time, increasing the rate of apoptosis. At the heart of quercetin’s apparent anti-mesothelioma effect…

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    Study Supports CRS/HIPEC for Peritoneal Mesothelioma

    ByAlex Strauss

    Another study supports the safety of a new treatment approach for peritoneal mesothelioma that combines cytoreductive surgery (CRS) with hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemoperfusion (HIPEC). The study finds the procedure safe, even when it is performed by surgeons who are new to the technique. HIPEC is a secondary treatment for mesothelioma and other cancers used in combination with open surgery. It involves bathing the open body cavity with a mixture of heated chemotherapy medicines. The drugs are designed to attack mesothelioma and other cancer cells left behind after cytoreductive surgery and to prevent new cancer cells from forming. The heat is believed to help the drugs more easily penetrate into tissue. Cancer researchers at the University of Arizona, which has recently begun using CRS/HIPEC,…

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    Europe Launches First Mesothelioma Tissue Bank

    ByAlex Strauss

    A hospital in Cambridge, England has opened Europe’s first dedicated mesothelioma tissue bank, an important step forward for doctors and researchers working to develop a treatment for this aggressive cancer. Although rare at 2,300 cases annually in the UK, mesothelioma is a serious and growing problem in that country, which now has the world’s highest per capita mesothelioma mortality rate. Mesothelioma is an aggressive cancer with no known cure. It is caused by exposure to asbestos. The ‘Mesobank UK’ tissue bank recently launched at Papworth Hospital in Cambridge (a part of Cambridge University Health Partners) will provide vital tissue samples and anonymous, detailed clinical information which can be used to conduct research studies. In a hospital press release, Dr. Robert Rintoul, who…

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    New Chemotherapy Approaches for Mesothelioma

    ByAlex Strauss

    A pair of new studies may help doctors improve the effectiveness of chemotherapy treatment for mesothelioma. The first of two new chemotherapy studies tested the value of adding bevacizumab to the drug combination of cisplatin and pemetrexed often used to treat mesothelioma. Bevacizumab (Avastin) inhibits angiogenesis, the growth of new blood vessels needed to feed cancer cells. It is currently used to treat a number of different cancers, including colorectal, lung, kidney and ovarian cancer. In the U.S., it has also been used to treat the brain cancer glioblastoma.  Results have been mixed. In a multicenter study led by researchers at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, bevacizumab was added to the cisplatin/pemetrexed combination for 52 previously untreated mesothelioma…