myeloma

A new study finds that the combination of a naturally occurring protein and a drug used to treat multiple myeloma may offer a promising new approach to treating mesothelioma. Malignant pleural mesothelioma, a cancer of the lung lining caused by asbestos exposure, is known to be difficult to treat using standard cancer therapies. The newly-tested combination of TNFalpha-Related Apoptosis Inducing Ligand (TRAIL) and the cancer drug bortezomib appears to kill mesothelioma cells by triggering “robust apoptosis” (programmed cell death). Both compounds have been studied on their own for their cancer-killing properties. The protein TRAIL is a part of the immune system secreted by most normal tissue cells. It triggers apoptosis in tumor cells by binding to what are called ‘death receptors’ in…