mesothelioma treatments

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    Proteins May Hold Key to Mesothelioma Susceptibility

    ByAlex Strauss

    Altered cellular proteins may reveal clues as to why some people exposed to asbestos get mesothelioma, while others don’t. That is the conclusion of new research conducted in China. Asbestos has long been known to cause mesothelioma, but the mechanisms by which it does so remain largely a mystery. For instance, scientists have been at a loss to say why some people can work around asbestos for years with no ill effects, while others with the same level of exposure contract malignant mesothelioma. Understanding why this happens may not only help predict who is at higher risk, but may also give doctors new targets for treatments. Now, research from China is shedding new light on the subject. The researchers focused…

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    Mesothelioma Experts Take Aim at Radical Surgery

    ByAlex Strauss

    There is disagreement among some of the world’s top mesothelioma experts about the value of the radical surgical treatment known as extrapleural pneumonectomy (EPP). An asbestos-linked malignancy, pleural mesothelioma grows in a thin sheet across the membranous tissue surrounding the lungs. The cancer may eventually spread to the lung tissue, as well. Fluid buildup and stiffening off the mesothelium by the tumor cells makes it impossible for the lungs to expand normally. Introduced in the 1940’s and modified over the years, EPP involves removal of not only the diseased pleural tissue, but the lung closest to it, the lymph nodes, and portions of the covering of the heart (pericardium) and the diaphragm. Despite a 60 percent complication rate, the radical…

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    White Blood Cells May Predict Mesothelioma Survival

    ByAlex Strauss

    Certain types of white blood cells may hold important survival clues – as well as a new treatment target – for mesothelioma patients and their doctors. Malignant pleural mesothelioma can result when inhaled asbestos fibers trigger physiological changes in the lung tissue. Medical science has yet to find a reliable way to stop the spread of mesothelioma once it begins and many patients succumb to this disease within a year or two after diagnosis. But mesothelioma tumors are known to produce an abundance of myeloid cell stimulating factors, chemicals that trigger the body to produce extra white blood cells. Now, a team of researchers at Brigham & Women’s Hospital in Boston believe that looking at the levels of these white…

  • Advanced Technology Explains Mesothelioma Mechanisms

    ByAlex Strauss

    A new way of looking at mesothelioma cancer cells is revealing some important information about the ways in which asbestos fibers affect human lung tissue. A group of Italian researchers used a combination of synchrotron soft X-ray imaging and fluorescence microscopy to shed light on exactly what makes asbestos fibers so deadly.  When it is inhaled, asbestos triggers a chain of events that can lead to mesothelioma, an aggressive cancer of the lung lining, as well as a host of other serious lung diseases.  The goal of the Italian study was to better understand the response of lung tissue to asbestos, which can help scientists in their efforts to develop effective mesothelioma treatments. In the lungs, iron-containing asbestos fibers irritate the tissue,…

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    Mesothelioma a ‘Good Target’ for Gene Therapy

    ByAlex Strauss

    The authors of an article to be published in the journal Current Treatment Options in Oncology say that malignant mesothelioma is an especially good target for a novel cancer treatment called gene therapy. Mesothelioma is an aggressive cancer of the thin, membranous mesothelial tissue surrounding the lungs, heart or abdomen. Also known as the ‘asbestos cancer’, because of its link to asbestos exposure, mesothelioma is extremely difficult to treat. Based on an evaluation of clinical trials on gene therapy for mesothelioma, the University of Pennsylvania researchers concluded that certain aspects of this disease may make gene therapy a promising option. One mesothelioma characteristic they cited is the tendency for the cancer to remain relatively localized until late in the course…

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    Mixed Results for Mesothelioma From Targeted Therapies

    ByAlex Strauss

    A review of recent clinical trials on various targeted therapies for malignant mesothelioma indicates that, while some are helpful, none are likely to become standard treatments yet. In an article in the international journal Cancer Chemotherapy and Pharmacology, a pair of Danish researchers reported their analysis of 32 clinical trials on 17 different targeted agents for mesothelioma. A targeted agent is a medication that takes aim at a specific cellular function within mesothelioma tumor cells. Some inhibit proteins needed for growth or replication. Others may attack the formation of blood vessels or other structures that feed the cancer cells. The extensive look at clinical trials of these targeted agents found that, overall, those that were used as a first-line treatment…

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    New Treatments Offer Hope for Mesothelioma

    ByAlex Strauss

    A new published review of standard and investigational treatments for malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) offers some hopeful news for mesothelioma patients. The article, published in Current Oncology Reports, analyzes an array of mesothelioma treatments, from new and existing chemotherapy drugs and new radiotherapy techniques to advances in immunotherapy and gene therapy. Chemotherapy The authors note that, although the chemotherapy combination of cisplatin and pemetrexed continues to be the preferred first-line treatment for mesothelioma, the newer combination of gemcitabine and cisplatin has also proven effective, especially in combination with the surgical procedure called extrapleural pneumonectomy and thoracic radiation. Other studies have also confirmed the value of the gemcitabine/cisplatin combination in Phase 2 clinical trials for inoperable mesothelioma. Radiation On the radiotherapy…

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    Mesothelioma IMRT More Effective Than Conventional Radiation

    ByAlex Strauss

    Intensity Modulated Radiotherapy (IMRT) appears to be the most effective and safest type of radiotherapy for treating mesothelioma patients after surgery. A new study published in the Journal of Thoracic Oncology says IMRT has advantages over conventional radiotherapy when used as part of a multi-modality approach to combat mesothelioma. Malignant mesothelioma, the asbestos-linked cancer, can take 20 to 40 years to develop but once it does, it often grows quickly. No single therapy has been shown to be universally effective at combating mesothelioma. A growing body of scientific evidence suggests that the most effective approach involves removing as many cancer cells as possible through a radical surgery called extrapleural pneumonectomy, and following the surgery with a combination of chemotherapy and…

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    More Than Thirty Mesothelioma Clinical Trials Are Underway

    ByAlex Strauss

    Clinical trials are human studies of new drugs and treatments to determine whether or not they should be approved by the FDA. Clinical trials for mesothelioma are ongoing, primarily at major medical centers around the country. Because mesothelioma is an aggressive cancer, many trials are focused on ways to detect it earlier and treat it more effectively with various combinations of therapies. Although participation in a mesothelioma trial may sound like a good way to connect with promising new treatments, not every mesothelioma patient is a candidate. Because clinical trials are established with specific goals, most have very specific guidelines as to the type of patients they are willing to treat. For example, some trials only accept patients who have…

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    New Mesothelioma Biomarker May Also Improve Treatment

    ByAlex Strauss

    A study conducted by a group of San Francisco researchers suggests that a new biomarker may help make chemotherapy drugs more effective for mesothelioma patients. A biomarker is a substance present in tumor cells that can help doctors identify cancer.  Biomarkers are especially important in mesothelioma, a virulent cancer of the mesothelium, because it can be so difficult to diagnose.  Now, medical researchers at the University of California who have been studying melanoma cell adhesion molecule (MCAM) have found it to be an even more precise biomarker than mesothelin, the most common biomarker used to diagnose mesothelioma. MCAM is already being used to help identify other types of cancer including ovarian cancer and certain skin cancers. Unlike mesothelin, which is present in…