Mesothelioma Patients Live Longer with Multimodal Treatment
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Mesothelioma Patients Live Longer with Multimodal Treatment

ByAlex Strauss

Another new study has confirmed that a multimodal approach – in which multiple treatments are used together – is the most reliable way to improve survival in patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma. Doctors in England and Italy have just published their findings on a mesothelioma treatment combination that includes surgery, pleural lavage, radiotherapy and systemic chemotherapy. The study included 102 mesothelioma patients treated between 2004 and 2013 at one of two London hospitals or at the University of Milan. About three quarters of the patients in the study had the epithelioid variety of mesothelioma, which is the most common form. Eighty percent were male. All of the patients underwent the lung-sparing mesothelioma surgery called pleurectomy/decortication (PD) during which the diseased…

Refining CRS-HIPEC for Peritoneal Mesothelioma
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Refining CRS-HIPEC for Peritoneal Mesothelioma

ByAlex Strauss

  Three new international studies are helping to refine a treatment for peritoneal mesothelioma that involves rinsing the body cavity with heated chemotherapy drugs. The treatment, called heated intraperitoneal chemotherapy or HIPEC, begins with surgery to remove as much of the mesothelioma tumor as possible from the surface of the peritoneal membrane. Chemotherapy drugs are then heated and rinsed through the area while the patient is still in surgery. The goal is to destroy any residual cancer cells and keep mesothelioma from growing back. Although the treatment is still relatively new, it is quickly becoming the standard of care for peritoneal mesothelioma. Now, researchers around the world are working on ways to make HIPEC even more effective. In one new…

Lymphoma Drug May Fight Mesothelioma, Too
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Lymphoma Drug May Fight Mesothelioma, Too

ByAlex Strauss

A drug granted accelerated FDA approval for the treatment of lymphomas appears to kill some types mesothelioma cells, too. Cancer researchers at Case Western Reserve University and Case Medical Center have just released some encouraging findings on the drug called brentuximab vedotin. Sold under the brand name Adcetris, brentuximab vedotin targets CD30, a protein that acts as a regulator of programmed cell death (apoptosis) by interacting with smaller proteins called cytokines. Certain cancers, including Hodgkin’s disease and anaplastic large cell lymphoma, have been found to overexpress CD30, making it easier for tumors to grow. Based on the success of brentuximab vedotin in lymphoma trials, and given the relatively low success rate of most standard mesothelioma treatments, the team elected to test the…

New Mesothelioma Trial: Radiation for Prevention?
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New Mesothelioma Trial: Radiation for Prevention?

ByAlex Strauss

Mesothelioma patients at risk for a serious treatment complication called procedure tract metastasis (PTM) may face a more promising prognosis when the results of a new clinical trial are in. Many mesothelioma patients undergo some type of interventional therapy, such as surgery or drainage of excess lung fluid. Unfortunately, any time an instrument is introduced into the chest of a patient with mesothelioma, there is a risk that the patient will develop new tumors along the path of the incision or catheter tract. These PTMs can not only be painful but they can also accelerate the progression of mesothelioma and make treatment more complicated. Now, a group of researchers in Great Britain have launched a new trial to determine whether giving patients some radiotherapy at the site…

Mesothelioma Chemotherapy: Can Supplements Make it Safer?
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Mesothelioma Chemotherapy: Can Supplements Make it Safer?

ByAlex Strauss

Vitamin B12 and folic acid supplements are often given to mesothelioma patients who are on chemotherapy in an effort to ward off neutropenia, a dangerous drop in white blood cells that can leave patients vulnerable to infection. Neutropenia has been linked to elevated levels of an amino acid called homocysteine, and pemetrexed can raise homocysteine. While some studies have found that supplementation makes chemotherapy less toxic, a team of British doctors found the supplements had little impact on a group of mesothelioma patients who were not on pemetrexed. Scientists at the Royal Marsden Hospital in Sutton, UK randomly assigned 83 patients with advanced lung cancer or malignant mesothelioma to receive platinum-based chemotherapy with or without B12 and folic acid supplementation. They were looking…

Experimental Drug May Offer “Brilliant Hope” for Mesothelioma Treatment
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Experimental Drug May Offer “Brilliant Hope” for Mesothelioma Treatment

ByAlex Strauss

HUHS1015 is a newly-synthesized analogue (chemically similar compound) of the blood pressure drug naftopidil. In the U.S., naftopidil is sold under the brand name Flivas and is also used to treat certain prostate conditions and Raynaud’s disease. In 2014, another Japanese research team published their findings on the anticancer properties of naftopidil, which appears to increase the expression of certain microRNAs associated with programmed cell death (apoptosis). In their new report on HUHS1015, scientists with the Hyogo College of Medicine and the Hyogo University of Health Sciences say the drug not only induced apoptosis in mesothelioma cells as well as naftopidil, but it also triggered necrosis, the premature death of cancer cells. According to author Tomoyuki Nishizaki and colleagues, HUHS1015…

Mesothelioma Chemotherapy Side-Effect Mimics Scleroderma, Infection
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Mesothelioma Chemotherapy Side-Effect Mimics Scleroderma, Infection

ByAlex Strauss

The antifolate pemetrexed (Alimta) is the first and is only drug approved by the FDA specifically to treat malignant mesothelioma, the aggressive cancer most closely associated with asbestos exposure.  A combination of pemetrexed and a platinum-based drug like cisplatin or carboplatin is the first-line treatment for most mesothelioma patients. But, like every drug, pemetrexed carries the potential for side effects. Researchers at Perigueux Hospital in Perigueux, France have just published a paper warning of a serious but little-known skin-related side effect of pemetrexed that may be unrecognized by mesothelioma patients and doctors. The report, published in a French dermatology journal, details the cases of two cancer patients on pemetrexed who developed a serious skin problem with symptoms resembling the connective…

Induction Therapies Improve Mesothelioma Surgery Outcomes
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Induction Therapies Improve Mesothelioma Surgery Outcomes

ByAlex Strauss

An induction therapy is the first in a series of therapeutic measures, which, in the case of mesothelioma, may include chemotherapy, radiation, surgery, immunotherapy or other types of experimental treatments.  Because mesothelioma is so treatment-resistant, most patients require a combination of therapies to see results, an approach that clinicians refer to as “multi-modality.” Dr. Laura Donahoe and her colleagues at Toronto Mesothelioma Research Program recently published their summary of novel induction therapies being test for pleural mesothelioma, including a new protocol that they have developed for radiotherapy prior to mesothelioma surgery. The protocol consists of accelerated hemithoracic (one side of the chest) radiation followed by lung-removing extrapleural pneumonectomy (EPP) surgery. “The rationale behind this protocol is to maximize both the…

Ingredient in Vinegar Kills Mesothelioma Cells in Minutes
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Ingredient in Vinegar Kills Mesothelioma Cells in Minutes

ByAlex Strauss

There is new evidence that the primary ingredient in vinegar might eventually be used to help fight deadly malignant mesothelioma. Acetic acid is the colorless organic compound that gives vinegar its pungent smell and distinctive sour taste. It makes up 3 to 5% of vinegar. (The remaining 95-97% is water) In its pure form, acetic acid is used in the production of cellulose acetate for photographic film and polyvinyl acetate for wood glue, as well as some synthetic fibers and fabrics. It is also used as a food additive to regulate the acidity of certain foods and condiments.   Acetic acid was added into the cell cultures at different concentrations and for different lengths of time. The researchers then analyzed…

Radiation Treatment May Worsen Lung Function in Mesothelioma
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Radiation Treatment May Worsen Lung Function in Mesothelioma

ByAlex Strauss

Researchers at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston and Princeton Radiation Oncology reached that conclusion after evaluating 24 mesothelioma surgery patients between 2009 and 2013. Study subjects underwent either lung-sparing pleurectomy/decortication (P/D) surgery or lung-removing extrapleural pneumonectomy (EPP). Both procedures aim to improve mesothelioma survival by removing the diseased pleural lining and other at-risk tissues such as the diaphragm and the pericardium around the heart. Both sets of patients were then treated with intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) to the affected side of their chest in an effort to kill any mesothelioma cells left behind after surgery. IMRT delivers beams of radiation in short bursts, giving it the ability to conform radiation dose to the irregular shape of a mesothelioma tumor….