In Search of a Better Mesothelioma Blood Test
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In Search of a Better Mesothelioma Blood Test

ByAlex Strauss

A team from the Center of Molecular Medicine in Bochum, Germany tested the blood of 43 male mesothelioma patients along with 52 control subjects that had been exposed to asbestos but hadn’t developed mesothelioma. Blood was analyzed for the presence of mesothelin, a protein that is the most common blood-based mesothelioma biomarker, and miR-103a-3p, a microRNA gene. When the team attempted to identify the mesothelioma patients by mesothelin levels alone, they were able to correctly identify 74% of the sick patients. At the same time, the mesothelin-only blood test correctly ruled out mesothelioma in 85% of the healthy control subjects. The micro RNA gene proved to be a more accurate identifier of mesothelioma. Using the microRNA gene as their only…

‘Tunnels’ Between Cells: A New Target for Mesothelioma Treatment?
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‘Tunnels’ Between Cells: A New Target for Mesothelioma Treatment?

ByAlex Strauss

Doctors with Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York and the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis have just released a new report on cellular structures called tunneling nanotubes and their potential role in mesothelioma growth and proliferation. Tunneling nanotubes (TnT), which are also sometimes referred to as “membrane nanotubes” or “intercellular bridges” are actin-based extensions or tubes that function as channels for transporting materials and information between cells. Because tunneling nanotubes are one of the important ways cells communicate with each other, the researchers theorized that they may also play a role in mesothelioma and devised a series of experiments to try to determine what that role is. Among other findings, the researchers discovered that tissue taken from mesothelioma…

Chemotherapy May be Underutilized for Mesothelioma
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Chemotherapy May be Underutilized for Mesothelioma

ByAlex Strauss

Doctors from the Asbestos Diseases Research Institute and Sydney Medical School reached their conclusions by comparing data on mesothelioma patients and their tumor characteristics with evidence-based mesothelioma treatment guidelines. They used special “decision analysis software” to calculate what they say is the optimal utilization rate for chemotherapy in mesothelioma. “Chemotherapy is recommended at least once during the disease trajectory in 65% of malignant pleural mesothelioma patients,” writes author Stephen Chuan-Hao Kao. According to Dr. Kao and his colleagues, that optimal rate is relatively close to what is being done for mesothelioma patients in Canada where 61% of patients got chemotherapy between 2003 and 2005 and in Australia where the rate was 54% between 2007 and 2009. Unfortunately, the Australian study…

Fine Needle Biopsy: An Easier Way to Diagnose Mesothelioma?
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Fine Needle Biopsy: An Easier Way to Diagnose Mesothelioma?

ByAlex Strauss

IExamining the tissue from a suspected tumor under a microscope is currently the only way to definitively diagnose suspected mesothelioma. But doctors at the University of Catania say cutting-needle biopsy, the pleural biopsy technique used by most surgeons, may be unnecessarily painful for patients. In their response to a recent published article on the subject in the journal Chest, Dr. Marco Sperandeo and colleagues present the case for what they say is a less traumatic type of biopsy – thoracic ultrasound-guided fine needle aspiration. According to the Italian researchers,  “These tools, quite neglected, are complementary to CT imaging in patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) or lung cancer (LC), are less traumatic, and are equally or more successful, with minimal…

Vegetable Compound May Help Treat Mesothelioma with Fewer Side Effects
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Vegetable Compound May Help Treat Mesothelioma with Fewer Side Effects

ByAlex Strauss

Phenethyl isothiocyanate (PEITC) is a naturally occurring isothiocyanate. Brussels sprouts, watercress, radishes and capers all get their characteristic flavors from isothiocyanates. Noting that PEITC has shown promising results against several other types of cancer, doctors at Universite Nantes tested it alone and in combination with cisplatin on nine lines of pleural mesothelioma and on healthy mesothelial cells. Some of the cells had been co-cultured with M2 macrophages, immune system cells that promote cell proliferation. Both PEITC and cisplatin were toxic to mesothelioma cells and that toxicity increased as the dose increased. But together, the two compounds were even more powerful, not only increasing each other’s anti-cancer effects but preventing the emergence of treatment resistant mesothelioma cells. Just as importantly, the…

PET/CT and Mesothelioma Staging: Better Imaging Techniques are Needed
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PET/CT and Mesothelioma Staging: Better Imaging Techniques are Needed

ByAlex Strauss

Scientists with the Institute of Diagnostic and interventional Radiology at the University Hospital of Zurich have just released a new study detailing the benefits and limitations of PET/CT. Positron Emission Tomography (PET) is a nuclear medicine imaging technique that produces three-dimensional pictures of functional processes in the body. When combined with computed tomography (CT), which uses x-rays and a computer to produce cross-sectional images, PET can give clinicians a more complete picture of cancer growth and stage. To determine the value of PET/CT in the staging of mesothelioma, the Swiss team analyzed the cases of 62 pleural mesothelioma patients who were undergoing chemotherapy prior to a planned surgery. Since the goal of this induction chemotherapy is to shrink tumors to…

Blood Pressure Drug May Offer New Hope for a Mesothelioma Cure
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Blood Pressure Drug May Offer New Hope for a Mesothelioma Cure

ByAlex Strauss

Japanese researchers say a drug used to treat high blood pressure may finally present an effective way to combat this deadly cancer. The drug is call naftopidil. It is marketed in the U.S. under the brand name Flivas and is known as an alpha blocker or an alpha-adrenergic antagonist. In addition to high blood pressure, naftopidil is used to treat certain prostate conditions and Raynaud’s disease. There is increasing evidence that it may also have antitumor properties on a variety of cancer types, including prostate cancer. Respiratory medicine researchers at Hyogo College of Medicine in Nishinomiya, Japan have been studying the effects of naftopidil on mesothelioma for several years. In their most recent study, they tested naftopidil on mesothelioma cells…

Orphan Drug Improves Mesothelioma Survival in Phase II Trial
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Orphan Drug Improves Mesothelioma Survival in Phase II Trial

ByAlex Strauss

T. Researchers with the National Cancer Institute report that, when administered along with the traditional chemotherapy, amatuximab appears to be able to enhance the effectiveness of treatment and extend survival. Amatuximab is a monoclonal antibody that targets the glycoprotein mesothelin. Many types of cancer overexpress this protein, including pleural mesothelioma. Studies have found that mesothelin plays a role in cell adhesion which allows tumors to take hold and ‘seed’ new tumors in other parts of the body. By binding to the mesothelin on the surface of mesothelioma cells, amatuximab prevents this adhesion and triggers an immune response against tumors. It was granted orphan drug status in the U.S. in 2012 for its potential to improve mesothelioma treatment. It received the…

Mesothelioma Patients Encouraged to Seek Out Clinical Trials
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Mesothelioma Patients Encouraged to Seek Out Clinical Trials

ByAlex Strauss

Two cancer experts from MD Anderson Cancer Center at the University of Texas say patients with mesothelioma should be encouraged to take part in clinical trials, not only to help themselves, but to help others who may develop the disease. In a new opinion article in Current Treatment Options in Oncology, radiation oncologist Daniel Gomez, MD, and medical oncologist Anne Tsao, MD, say the success of these trials depends on participation by mesothelioma patients.  “Advances in the field of MPM are reliant on participation in clinical trials and identifying biomarkers that are predictive for response to systemic therapies and prognostic for survival benefit,” they write. The authors detail the tri-modality therapy approach which is currently the gold standard for the…

Optimal Mesothelioma Care: Is Reimbursement Structure a Disincentive?
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Optimal Mesothelioma Care: Is Reimbursement Structure a Disincentive?

ByAlex Strauss

Impending changes in the way hospitals are reimbursed for medical treatments may help improve outcomes for some patients with peritoneal mesothelioma. That conclusion comes from a new study in the Annals of Surgical Oncology, which compared the costs with the money a hospital stands to earn from a popular mesothelioma treatment. Mesothelioma is a fast-growing and lethal cancer that occurs most often in people who worked in jobs that exposed them to asbestos. While most cases of mesothelioma occur on the pleura, the lining around the lungs, about a third of cases occur on the peritoneum, which lines the abdomen. Increasingly, the gold standard treatment for people with peritoneal mesothelioma is cytoreductive surgery (CRS) to remove as much of the…