Goat Virus Proves Lethal to Mesothelioma Cells in Italian Study
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Goat Virus Proves Lethal to Mesothelioma Cells in Italian Study

ByAlex Strauss

Researchers in Italy say a virus normally found in goats could offer a new, safer way to kill malignant mesothelioma cells and improve patient outcomes.  The virus is caprine herpesvirus 1 (CpHV-1). It has been blamed for bouts of spontaneous abortions in goat herds. But it does not appear to cause any disease in humans. In fact, previous studies show CpHV-1 can kill several types of human cancer cells.  The newest study of CpHV-1 was conducted at the National Cancer Institute IRCCS G. Pascale Foundation in Naples. Scientists there made two important discoveries. They found that not only can CpHV-1 kill mesothelioma cells without harming normal cells, but it might also have the potential to make chemotherapy work better.  Mesothelioma…

Infections Can Help Fight Mesothelioma, Study Suggests
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Infections Can Help Fight Mesothelioma, Study Suggests

ByAlex Strauss

There is new evidence to support the idea that infections can help fight mesothelioma.  Researchers at a Belgium University say mice with mesothelioma had slower-growing tumors and lived longer when they were injected with a virus.  The research team used a mouse virus called lactate dehydrogenase-elevating virus. The new study suggests that infections can help fight mesothelioma by activating cancer-killing immune system cells.  The study could help doctors understand how to use the immune system to combat malignant mesothelioma in human patients.  The Immune System and Mesothelioma The immune system is constantly on the lookout for cells that could turn into cancer. When natural killer cells recognize a potential mesothelioma cell, they destroy it.  But mesothelioma cells produce proteins that…

Combination Mesothelioma Therapy Begins Pivotal Trial
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Combination Mesothelioma Therapy Begins Pivotal Trial

ByAlex Strauss

A combination mesothelioma therapy that showed promise in early trials is finally being studied on a larger scale. The power-packed chemo-immuno-gene therapy known as TR002 has the potential to change the outlook for thousands of malignant mesothelioma patients. A small trial of the combination mesothelioma therapy in 2016 produced “significantly higher” mesothelioma survival rates than most patients are told to expect. Drug company Trizell announced last month that the combination will now be tested on 300 patients at sites in the US, Europe, Australia and Russia. Combination Mesothelioma Therapy Starts with Gene Therapy TR002 is an investigational gene therapy for mesothelioma patients who have failed first-line chemotherapy. This combination mesothelioma therapy is based on the human interferon-alpha 2b gene. The…

Virotherapy for Mesothelioma Can Be More Effective
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Virotherapy for Mesothelioma Can Be More Effective

ByAlex Strauss

Hong Kong researchers may have found a way to get around one of the biggest challenges of virotherapy for mesothelioma. Virotherapy uses a modified virus to deliver medicine or genetic information into the body. Modified viruses are useful because they can be “programmed” to seek out cancer cells. But modified viruses do not always behave the way scientists hope they will. One problem with some virotherapy for mesothelioma is that it can block the natural immune response. The body naturally fights malignant mesothelioma by releasing white blood cells called CTLs (T lymphocytes). But MVTT virotherapy can prevent the release of CTLs, even while it attacks the tumor. “Although MVTT [a type of virotherapy] leads to regression of established mesothelioma dose-dependently,…

Measles May Help Fight Mesothelioma
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Measles May Help Fight Mesothelioma

ByAlex Strauss

A new mesothelioma clinical trial being conducted at the Mayo Clinic uses an altered version of the measles virus to combat the deadly cancer. The potential of the measles virus to kill cancers like mesothelioma was noticed many years ago, before vaccination curtailed the spread of measles. In several cases, cancer patients who contracted natural measles experienced shrinkage of their tumors. Today, advanced molecular science has made it possible to insert a new gene into the measles virus that can further increase its specificity and potency against mesothelioma tumor cells. Because malignant pleural mesothelioma (the most common type) arises on the mesothelial membrane around the lungs, Mayo Clinic researchers administer the altered measles virus directly into the pleural space, between the lungs…

Mesothelioma and Virotherapy
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Mesothelioma and Virotherapy

ByAlex Strauss

A recently published study* suggests that virotherapy may be a viable treatment option for mesothelioma, as well as for other cancers. Virotherapy is the use of biotechnology to convert viruses into cancer-fighting agents by reprogramming viruses to only attack cancerous cells An agent of change for patients with “no real treatment alternatives” “Normally, viruses replicate to increase their number, and by virtue of that process, healthy cells are killed,” explains David T. Curiel, MD, PhD, director of the Division of Human Gene Therapy at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. “Virotherapy is about engineering viruses so that they replicate only in tumor cells – and kill only tumor cells.” In order to engineer an effective virus, scientists must first understand…