Extended Survival of Peritoneal Mesothelioma with Repeat Treatment
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Extended Survival of Peritoneal Mesothelioma with Repeat Treatment

ByAlex Strauss

There is some good news on the research front for patients with recurrent peritoneal mesothelioma. Doctors at the University of New South Wales in Australia say that treating these patients again with surgery and heated chemotherapy is extending lives, sometimes for several years. Peritoneal mesothelioma, which accounts for about 20 percent of mesothelioma cases, occurs on the peritoneal membrane that surrounds abdominal organs. Cytoreductive surgery (CRS) aims to remove as much of that diseased tissue as possible. It is often followed by heated intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC) to kill any remaining mesothelioma cells and to keep new tumors from starting. The CRS/HIPEC combination has become the gold standard first line treatment for peritoneal mesothelioma. But the authors of a new study…

Characteristics of Mesothelioma in Younger Patients
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Characteristics of Mesothelioma in Younger Patients

ByAlex Strauss

A new report finds that mesothelioma has different characteristics in younger people than it does in the more typical older patients. Mesothelioma is an aggressive and hard-to-treat cancer usually caused by exposure to asbestos. It can take decades to develop and, as a result, is usually thought of as a disease of older people. The vast majority of patients are over 70. However, as a new report in Oncotarget points out, there is a subset of mesothelioma patients under 40 years old. In these patients, mesothelioma can act very differently – and require a different treatment approach – than it does in the older population. The new study relied on data from Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER), a national…

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

ByAlex Strauss

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
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Predicting Long-Term Mesothelioma Survival After Surgery

ByAlex Strauss

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…

Lower-Cost Mesothelioma Drug May Be as Effective as Gold Standard
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Lower-Cost Mesothelioma Drug May Be as Effective as Gold Standard

ByAlex Strauss

A new study suggests that the lower cost chemotherapy drug Gemzar (gemcitabine) combined with a platinum based agent (cisplatin or carboplatin) may be just as effective at treating advanced pleural mesothelioma as the gold standard mesothelioma drug Alimta (pemetrexed) . Doctors in Turkey, a country with one of the world’s highest rates of mesothelioma, tracked 116 mesothelioma patients who were treated with a combination of Alimta and a platinum drug between 1999 and 2012. During the same period, 30 mesothelioma patients received the alternative combination of Gemzar and a platinum drug. There were no differences between the two groups in terms of age, gender, asbestos exposure, histological subtype, cancer stage or other characteristics.  The mean age of the patients was…

British Group Highlights Top Ten Mesothelioma Research Priorities
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British Group Highlights Top Ten Mesothelioma Research Priorities

ByAlex Strauss

The potential value of immunotherapy, individualized chemotherapy, second-line treatments, and strategies for patient monitoring are among the top ten priorities for mesothelioma research according to British patients, caregivers, and clinicians. The James Lind Alliance specializes in setting priorities for health policy. The group was asked to work with the British National Institute for Health Research to study mesothelioma in the wake of sweeping mesothelioma compensation legislation in 2013. The Priority Setting Partnership brought together mesothelioma patients, caregivers, clinicians and support organizations to develop a research priority list, which was published in the latest issue of Lung Cancer. In all, 453 of the initial mesothelioma surveys were returned and refined into 52 unanswered research questions. Another 202 responders helped reduce that…

Sex Hormones May Account for Better Mesothelioma Survival in Women
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Sex Hormones May Account for Better Mesothelioma Survival in Women

ByAlex Strauss

There’s evidence that female sex hormones may help explain the better survival rates in women with peritoneal mesothelioma. The news could open the door for a new way to treat the disease. Peritoneal mesothelioma is a rare form of mesothelioma that attacks the membrane around abdominal organs. Like most forms of mesothelioma, it is believed to be caused by asbestos and carries a poor prognosis. In addition to being less likely to contract mesothelioma than their male counterparts, women are also less likely to die from it quickly. Now, researchers at St. George Hospital in Sydney, Australia think they may know why. The team analyzed data on 52 consecutive peritoneal mesothelioma patients treated with cytoreductive surgery and heated intraperitoneal chemotherapy…

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

ByAlex Strauss

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…

Immunotherapy for Advanced Mesothelioma: Surgery May Be the Key
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Immunotherapy for Advanced Mesothelioma: Surgery May Be the Key

ByAlex Strauss

An exciting new research development may help make immunotherapy vaccines effective for more mesothelioma patients, including those with advanced disease who have not been able to benefit from these treatments. Immunotherapy works by harnessing the power of the body’s own immune system and directing it to attack cancer cells. Unfortunately, as mesothelioma tumors grow, they release increasing amounts of an immune system suppressor designed to ward off an attack. The bigger the tumor, the more powerful the immune suppression and the less effective immunotherapy drugs are likely to be. At the same time, larger mesothelioma tumors may also produce less mesothelin, a protein that can be used to help immunotherapy vaccines target cancer cells. With less mesothelin and strong immunosuppression,…

New Immune Therapies May Offer Best Hope for Mesothelioma
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New Immune Therapies May Offer Best Hope for Mesothelioma

ByAlex Strauss

Immunotherapies, cancer drugs designed to alter the immune system, are emerging as one of the most hopeful methods of treating and perhaps even curing malignant mesothelioma. Mesothelioma is an almost universally fatal cancer of the membranes that surround the lungs and line the abdomen. Conventional cancer therapies, including the chemotherapy regimen that has become the standard-of-care for mesothelioma, have done little to improve survival. Even after decades of research and the development of multi-modal treatments, most mesothelioma patients still die of the disease within a year of diagnosis. But now, the outlook for this deadly cancer may finally be changing thanks to the emerging field of immunotherapy. Immunomodulators target the body’s own anti-tumor responses, effectively “turning them on” by blocking the processes (usually…