Component in Spice May Help Slow Mesothelioma Growth
| | | | |

Component in Spice May Help Slow Mesothelioma Growth

ByAlex Strauss

Yet another study has demonstrated the potential mesothelioma-fighting properties of curcumin, an anti-inflammatory polyphenol that is the primary component in the spice turmeric. The latest study suggests that applying curcumin along with cancer-fighting peptides may increase the levels of a protein inhibitor that can slow the progression of mesothelioma. Mesothelioma is usually caused by exposure to the mineral asbestos. Tens of thousands of people contract this aggressive cancer annually. Many of them worked in industries that used asbestos heavily before it was revealed to cause mesothelioma. Cancer researchers around the world continue to work on a way to slow the cancer, which often claims the lives of patients within a year of diagnosis. The latest study was conducted by doctors…

New Treatments Have Improved Outcomes for Peritoneal Mesothelioma
| | | | |

New Treatments Have Improved Outcomes for Peritoneal Mesothelioma

ByAlex Strauss

The newest studies on peritoneal mesothelioma indicate that the outlook for people with this rare asbestos-linked cancer are better than ever. A recent article in the World Journal of Gastroenterology detailed the progress that has been made – and continues to be made – in the treatment of peritoneal mesothelioma in the last decade. Peritoneal mesothelioma is a type of mesothelioma that occurs on the peritoneum, the lining around the abdominal organs. It accounts for less than a third of mesothelioma cases. In the new article, surgeons with Virginia Commonwealth University’s School of Medicine and the Massey Cancer Center in Richmond report that the increasing use of cytoreductive surgery combined with a rinse of heated chemotherapy drugs has significantly improved…

Rare Mesothelioma Subtype Less Likely to Respond to Treatment
| | | |

Rare Mesothelioma Subtype Less Likely to Respond to Treatment

ByAlex Strauss

A new meta-analysis confirms that people with the sarcomatoid type of mesothelioma are less likely to respond to systemic chemotherapy than are people with other histological subtypes. Citing a lack of research on the responsiveness of different types of mesothelioma, scientists with the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota and the Levine Cancer Institute in Charlotte, NC reviewed the medical literature for any studies that broke down responses by histological subtype. Of the 544 studies analyzed, 30 included sarcomatoid mesothelioma patients and met the trial criteria that patients be treated only with chemotherapy. The selected studies included a total of 1,475 mesothelioma patients. Sixty-eight percent of patients (1,011) had the epithelioid variety of mesothelioma, the most common type. Just over 13 percent…

Longer Mesothelioma Survival Not Always Linked to Specific Treatments
| | | | | | |

Longer Mesothelioma Survival Not Always Linked to Specific Treatments

ByAlex Strauss

A new study conducted in Australia contains some good news and some bad news for people with malignant pleural mesothelioma and their loved ones. The findings indicate that it is possible to survive longer with pleural mesothelioma, but survival may not have as much to do with specific treatments as scientists have thought. The study focused on 910 patients from New South Wales, Australia, an area with a rich history of asbestos mining. Patients were all registered with the New South Wales Dust Diseases board between 2002 and 2009. Researchers from the Asbestos Diseases Research Institute and Sydney Medical School used the database to compile a list of prognostic factors that appear to impact mesothelioma survival. Ninety percent of study…

NSAIDS Temporarily Stave Off Mesothelioma in Mice
| | | | |

NSAIDS Temporarily Stave Off Mesothelioma in Mice

ByAlex Strauss

Aspirin and COX-2 inhibitors like Celebrex will not keep mesothelioma from developing, but they may slow it down a little. That is the conclusion of a team of Australian scientists studying the effects of these drugs on mice and asbestos-exposed people. Both COX-2 inhibitors (pain relievers which act on a specific enzyme responsible for inflammation) and NSAIDS (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs) like aspirin have been associated with a lower incidence of cancer. In addition, because mesothelioma is known to be triggered, in part, by chronic inflammation caused by asbestos fibers, researchers at the National Centre for Asbestos Related Diseases and the School of Public Health at the University of Western Australia theorized that these drugs might be used to prevent mesothelioma….

Mesothelioma Survival: Treatment Response May Not Be the Best Predictor
| | | | |

Mesothelioma Survival: Treatment Response May Not Be the Best Predictor

ByAlex Strauss

How long it takes for a person’s mesothelioma to start growing again after chemotherapy may be a better indicator of their survival odds than their actual treatment response. That word comes from a new study published in the European Journal of Cancer. Doctors from France, Belgium, the UK, and the Netherlands developed models showing how progression-free survival could be used for prognosis. To independently validate these models, the researchers examined patient data from 10 European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) studies of chemotherapy for malignant pleural mesothelioma. A total of 523 mesothelioma patients were included in the analysis. Researchers looked at the treatment response rate, progression-free survival at 9 and 18 weeks, and overall survival for each…

Sodium Levels Predict Mesothelioma Survival
| | |

Sodium Levels Predict Mesothelioma Survival

ByAlex Strauss

Italian oncologists say an electrolyte imbalance called hyponatraemia could be a valuable way to predict treatment response in malignant pleural mesothelioma patients. Hyponatraemia is an abnormally low level of sodium in the blood. It can be caused by a range of factors, from an underlying medical condition to drinking too much water and diluting the blood. In people with mesothelioma, hyponatraemia can also be triggered by chemotherapy. By analyzing the cases of 62 consecutive mesothelioma patients on chemotherapy, researchers with the Marche Polytechnic University in Ancona, Italy determined that those who developed hyponatraemia were less likely to have good outcomes. All patients received pemetrexed-based chemotherapy as a first-line treatment for their mesothelioma between 2003 and 2013. Twenty-nine of the mesothelioma…

IMRT for Mesothelioma: Experience Impacts Outcomes

IMRT for Mesothelioma: Experience Impacts Outcomes

ByAlex Strauss

A medical center’s level of experience with intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) can have a significant impact on the outcomes of mesothelioma patients who undergo the treatment. That conclusion comes from a new study conducted by cancer experts at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York and published in the International Journal of Radiation Oncology, Biology, Physics. IMRT is a precision method for delivering radiation into a tumor while protecting healthy cells from overexposure. Controlled by a computerized device called a linear accelerator, IMRT delivers beams of radiation in short bursts which give it the ability to conform radiation dose to the shape of a tumor. This ability to accurately target even oddly-shaped tumors is the reason some believe IMRT…

Australian Doctors Use Bacteria to Shrink Mesothelioma Tumors
| | | | | | |

Australian Doctors Use Bacteria to Shrink Mesothelioma Tumors

ByAlex Strauss

Could bacteria responsible for problems ranging from sinusitis to food poisoning be used as a weapon in the fight against malignant mesothelioma? The results of a new study conducted by mesothelioma researchers at the University of Western Australia suggest that it might. The researchers focused their study on a compound made up of proteins produced by the bacteria Staphylococcus aureus, also called ‘Staph’ bacteria. The compound has been used clinically to induce pleurodesis, a closing up of the pleural space around the lungs that can become fluid-filled in people with mesothelioma. Based on its success in pleurodesis, the Australian team wondered if the S. aureus protein compound could also shrink tumors. Scientists in the University’s Centre for Asthma, Allergy and…

Immune-Stimulating Vaccine “Cures” Mesothelioma in Mice

Immune-Stimulating Vaccine “Cures” Mesothelioma in Mice

ByAlex Strauss

Researchers from Hong Kong claim to have found a way eradicate mesothelioma in mice using a DNA vaccine. Microbiologists at the University of Hong Kong have even gone so far as to use the word “cure” in their recently-published paper in the journal Cancer Research. Like other types of cancer, asbestos-induced mesothelioma spreads, in part, by suppressing the body’s natural anti-cancer defenses. The Hong Kong team administered a vaccine based on PD-1, a protein known as “programmed cell death protein 1”, to effectively reprogram the DNA of the lab mice, turning those natural defenses back on. According to the report, the PD-1-based DNA vaccine conferred “complete and long-lasting protection” against “lethal mesothelioma challenge” in the mice. But the advantages did…