white blood

Certain types of white blood cells may hold important survival clues – as well as a new treatment target – for mesothelioma patients and their doctors. Malignant pleural mesothelioma can result when inhaled asbestos fibers trigger physiological changes in the lung tissue. Medical science has yet to find a reliable way to stop the spread of mesothelioma once it begins and many patients succumb to this disease within a year or two after diagnosis. But mesothelioma tumors are known to produce an abundance of myeloid cell stimulating factors, chemicals that trigger the body to produce extra white blood cells. Now, a team of researchers at Brigham & Women’s Hospital in Boston believe that looking at the levels of these white…