Autoimmune Disease and Mesothelioma: Will it Impact Survival?
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Autoimmune Disease and Mesothelioma: Will it Impact Survival?

ByAlex Strauss

A new lung cancer study suggests that having an autoimmune disease will not necessarily lead to shorter cancer survival. This could be good news for pleural mesothelioma patients suffering from autoimmune disorders. Pleural mesothelioma is a lung-related disease that has many characteristics in common with lung cancer.  The new study comes from Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago. It included 177 lung cancer patients who also had immune diseases. Doctors compared their survival with a control group of lung cancer patients.   They determined that having an autoimmune disease did not negatively impact lung cancer survival. In fact, some of those patients lived longer than those with healthy immune systems.  What is an Autoimmune Disease? An autoimmune disease is…

Predicting Mesothelioma Survival with Routine Clinical Tests
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Predicting Mesothelioma Survival with Routine Clinical Tests

ByAlex Strauss

UK researchers say predicting mesothelioma survival does not have to be complicated. Their new study shows routine doctor’s office tests may be just as accurate as more complex metrics. The study appears in the new issue of the BMJ Open Respiratory Research journal. It involved 100 patients with malignant mesothelioma over a four-year period.  The team compared treatment outcomes among these patients with their results on basic health tests. More often than not, these tests correctly predicted their prognosis. The researchers say simplifying the process of predicting mesothelioma survival could help doctors and patients make better treatment decisions.  Prognostic Indicators in Asbestos Cancer Malignant pleural mesothelioma is an uncommon but lethal form of membrane cancer. Patients who get it usually…

High PD-L1 Levels Could Be Bad News for Mesothelioma Surgery Candidates
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High PD-L1 Levels Could Be Bad News for Mesothelioma Surgery Candidates

ByAlex Strauss

Yet another new study has found a link between PD-L1 levels and mesothelioma survival – this time in people slated to have surgery for malignant pleural mesothelioma.  PD-L1 stands for programmed cell death ligand 1. It is a protein expressed by some cancer cells that helps them avoid immune system attack.  Researchers at Baylor College of Medicine are the latest to show that higher PD-L1 levels may lead to a worse mesothelioma prognosis. Their study focused specifically on mesothelioma surgery candidates.  The results were published recently in the Annals of Thoracic Surgery.  PD-L1 Levels and Mesothelioma Prognosis Even healthy people express some amount of PD-L1. Its job is to suppress the part of the immune system that attacks foreign tissues….

Age is a Factor in Mesothelioma Survival After Surgery
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Age is a Factor in Mesothelioma Survival After Surgery

ByAlex Strauss

Age appears to be one of the biggest predictors of mesothelioma survival after surgery. This holds true no matter which kind of surgery a patient has.  A new study from the University of Pennsylvania compared the outcomes of more than 2,000 mesothelioma surgery patients. They compared them by surgical type. They also compared their survival with that of people who did not have surgery. Mesothelioma survival after surgery was consistently longer for younger patients. The risk of death within a few months went up a little bit with each year of age. The news could help patients and doctors make better treatment decisions. Surgical Procedures for Mesothelioma Operating on mesothelioma patients is controversial. Mesothelioma tumors are irregularly shaped and difficult to…

Long-Term Mesothelioma Survival: Follow-up is Critical
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Long-Term Mesothelioma Survival: Follow-up is Critical

ByAlex Strauss

A newly published French case report is a reminder that long-term mesothelioma survival requires long-term follow-up. The case comes from Aix-Marseille University in Marseille. In the Annals of Medicine and Surgery, doctors wrote about a man who survived mesothelioma for 14 years. In all that time, his cancer did not progress. The situation is unusual for mesothelioma. The life expectancy of most mesothelioma patients is about 18 months. Prolonged survival is two years or more. But the authors of the new report say their case shows that long-term mesothelioma survival is not impossible with the right approach. Treatment for Malignant Mesothelioma Malignant mesothelioma usually occurs in people who have lived or worked around asbestos. Many do not know they have…

Could This Protein Play a Role in Survival of Pleural Mesothelioma?
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Could This Protein Play a Role in Survival of Pleural Mesothelioma?

ByAlex Strauss

Research funded by the National Cancer Institute has identified a protein that might play a key role in survival of pleural mesothelioma.  The protein is called UHRF1. It is encoded by a gene of the same name. Researchers believe it may be a driver of growth and spread in malignant mesothelioma.  The research will have to be confirmed on a larger scale. But if it turns out to be true, it could give doctors a new way to extend survival of pleural mesothelioma.  Finding Drivers of Mesothelioma Growth Pleural mesothelioma is a membrane (mesothelium) cancer caused by asbestos exposure. Although some people do survive mesothelioma, it is rare. Average survival of pleural mesothelioma is right around 18 months.  It can…

Peritoneal Mesothelioma Survival Not Shortened by Organ Resection
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Peritoneal Mesothelioma Survival Not Shortened by Organ Resection

ByAlex Strauss

A new study finds that organ resection during CRS/HIPEC surgery does not shorten peritoneal mesothelioma survival and may even help prolong it.  The new research included 174 peritoneal mesothelioma patients from cancer centers across the country. These patients had cytoreductive surgery followed by heated intraperitoneal chemotherapy (CRS/HIPEC).  About half of the patients also had at least one organ removed to help prevent mesothelioma recurrence. The goal of the new study was to determine what impact, if any, this practice has on peritoneal mesothelioma survival. The answer appears to be, not much.  CRS/HIPEC and Peritoneal Mesothelioma Survival About 20 percent of mesothelioma patients have the peritoneal variety. This type of mesothelioma occurs on the lining of the abdomen and can easily…

“Exceptional Survival” in Some Patients on Nivolumab for Mesothelioma
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“Exceptional Survival” in Some Patients on Nivolumab for Mesothelioma

ByAlex Strauss

A real-world study of Dutch patients suggests that nivolumab for mesothelioma can dramatically extend survival in the right patients.  Nivolumab is sold under the brand name Opdivo. It is a type of immunotherapy. It works by making cancer cells more vulnerable to attack. The FDA approved nivolumab to treat non-small cell lung cancer and some other cancers.  It is still in the testing phase for malignant mesothelioma. The new report suggests that careful patient selection is the key to making nivolumab for mesothelioma work.  Why Nivolumab for Mesothelioma? Malignant mesothelioma is an aggressive cancer caused by past exposure to asbestos. Like other types of cancer, it has ways of protecting itself from immune system attack. A protein called PD-L1 is…

Some Long-Term Mesothelioma Survivors May Have Few Symptoms
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Some Long-Term Mesothelioma Survivors May Have Few Symptoms

ByAlex Strauss

New research shows that some long-term mesothelioma survivors may have few or no symptoms of the disease for years.  The research appears in a recent issue of the journal Clinical Lung Cancer. A team of Finnish doctors wanted to identify the unique characteristics of long-term mesothelioma survivors. They discovered that some of these survivors seem to have an indolent form of asbestos cancer. This suggests that it is possible for a person to live for many years with pleural  mesothelioma and not even know they have it. Typical Mesothelioma Symptoms It is not unusual for mesothelioma patients to have no symptoms in the early stages, but long-term mesothelioma survivors are rare. Once the cancer takes hold, it usually grows quickly. …

BAP1 Expression Not an Independent Factor in Mesothelioma Prognosis
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BAP1 Expression Not an Independent Factor in Mesothelioma Prognosis

ByAlex Strauss

A new report says the prognostic role of BAP1 expression in mesothelioma is not as cut-and-dried as some studies suggest. Italian researchers analyzed the cases of 698 patients with pleural mesothelioma. The group included 60 of their own patients and another 638 from other studies. Their analysis suggests that mesothelioma prognosis has more to do with subtype than with genetic BAP1 expression. They caution doctors not to put too much stock in a patient’s BAP1 status without also considering other factors. Genetic Alterations and Mesothelioma Survival Asbestos exposure is the primary cause of mesothelioma. But not everyone who is exposed to asbestos gets cancer. This may have to do with their genetic makeup. Certain genetic alterations may make a person…