Mesothelioma Law Blog

New Mesothelioma Vaccine Appears Safe

A new study out of the Netherlands has concluded that an investigational vaccine for the asbestos-related cancer mesothelioma is safe. The vaccine’s main agent is an immune system booster rooted in the body’s dendritic cells.

A group of Dutch researchers tested the vaccine, which infuses a patient’s own cells with antigens designed to combat mesothelioma tumor cells. The study was carried out on 10 patients, producing a T-cell response against malignant mesothelioma tumors.

This trial would mark the first time dendritic-cell immunotherapy has been used in patients diagnosed with mesothelioma.

While prognosis in those diagnosed with mesothelioma is typically quite poor, researchers hope that dendritic-cell immunotherapy will not only be able to extend survival rates, but also prevent the development of mesothelioma in those previously exposed to asbestos.

Traditional mesothelioma treatment regimens will typically utilize some combination of chemotherapy and radiation therapy. Even with treatment, mesothelioma patients average only 12 months survival at diagnosis.

The study was published online March 4th and will appear in an upcoming issue of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.

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New Study Into Cancer Self-Seeding Offers Hope for Mesothelioma Patients

New York—In a recently published study, researchers have revealed that cancer can actually “seed” itself through the body, and that tumors can re-seed themselves even after having been surgically removed. This may lead to difficulty in treating certain diffuse, complex cancers such as mesothelioma, the asbestos cancer.

Mesothelioma is a rare cancer, affecting only 2,000 to 3,000 new patients each year in the United States, and it is also unusual because of the way it develops. Instead of forming a discrete, well-defined tumor, like the tumors that occur with lung or breast cancer, mesothelioma spreads across the thin layer that covers and protects the lungs and other organs. Since it is so widespread, it is nearly impossible to remove with surgery, unless it is caught in the earliest stage of development. Chemotherapy and radiation tend to be less than optimal treatments, as well.

The new study, which was conducted by Joan Massague, PhD., Chairman of the Cancer Biology and Genetics Program and the Sloan-Kettering Institute, may be helpful in the development of drugs that can target and halt the metastasis of cancer. The self-seeding process, the researchers discovered, occurs when a cell escapes from the tumor and finds a temporary location in which to linger, such as bone marrow. Later, even months after treatment to remove the initial tumor, these cells can be circulated throughout the body and attach themselves to a tissue, leading to a recurrence of the cancer.

Said Massague, the researchers hope to pioneer “targeted therapies that may interfere with the self-seeding process and perhaps slow or even prevent tumor progression.”

Mesothelioma, which has a grim prognosis, can be attributed to asbestos exposure in nearly all cases. It can remain latent within the body for a remarkably long period of time, often being diagnosed decades after the exposure to asbestos began occurring. Most patients do not live more than a few months after being diagnosed, however.

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Environmental Asbestos Exposure Multiplies Mesothelioma Risk

According to a recent study in the Journal of Exposure Science and Environmental Epidemiology, it is a well known fact that people who work in asbestos plants are at an increased risk for mesothelioma, a rare form of cancer almost exclusively caused by asbestos exposure. Now, a new study reveals that even living close to one of these plants may up the risk of developing the disease. Leftover waste from asbestos facilities is a major contributor to as many as ten additional cases of mesothelioma each year in neighbouring communities.

Since, mesothelioma is rather rare, it is of great significance that one can increase the risk of contracting the condition by living near an asbestos plant.

Previous research has already established a link between on-the-job asbestos exposure and mesothelioma, with workers of shipyards and other facilities processing asbestos facing a higher risk for the cancer than the general population.

In 2003, the local government launched the Clean Up Asbestos Act in an effort to reduce asbestos exposure by removing any remaining asbestos from the soil in contaminated areas. It is believed cleaning up asbestos pollution should eventually reduce the number of mesothelioma cases in the areas studied. However, the results of the clean-up effort will not be visible for decades as mesothelioma emerges decades after exposure to asbestos.

A naturally occurring mineral, asbestos is known for its durability and fire-resistant properties, including its toxic effects on humans and animals. It is used in a wide variety of building materials insulation products, siding, cements, flooring and roofing, to name just a few.

Damaged or disturbed asbestos-containing materials release toxic asbestos fibres into the air, which when inhaled or ingested result in the development of potential illnesses, including lung cancer, asbestosis and mesothelioma.

When asbestos fibres lodge themselves in the lining of the lungs (pleural mesothelioma), heart (pericardial mesothelioma), or abdomen (peritoneal mesothelioma), the condition develops. Testicular mesothelioma is another type of asbestos cancer.

Taking anywhere between 20 to 50-years to develop, one also experiences difficulty while breathing and swallowing, extreme weight loss as side effects of malignant mesothelioma cancer. Asbestosis, another asbestos-related disease also causes scarring of the lungs, which develops typically after someone has experienced prolonged exposure to airborne asbestos.

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Study To Examine Possible Genetic Predisposition To Mesothelioma

Medical researchers in North Carolina have announced a new study to investigate the possibility of a genetic predisposition to the development of mesothelioma. The Wake Forest School of Medicine in Winston Salem, NC and FirstHealth Carolinas, has undertaken research to better understand why only some individuals exposed to asbestos develop mesothelioma.

Dr. Jill Ohar of Wake Forest University, the study’s principal investigator, has spent more than 20 years studying mesothelioma. Her previous work includes research into understanding why some people and families appear more susceptible to developing the disease and whether such susceptibility could be inherited.

“Over years of research, we have determined that there is a strong tendency for mesothelioma to run in families and it tends to be associated with a family history of cancer, which suggests a genetic susceptibility,” Ohar said in a prepared statement about the current study released by FirstHealth Carolinas.

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Mesothelioma Research Being Done

Researchers at the Mayo Clinic and Harvard Medical School have discovered that a protein thought to ward against the development of cancer can actually cause tumors to spread.

The study revolves around FOXO3a, a transcription factor that acts to regulate gene expression. For years, researchers had believed that activating FOXO3a would help fight cancer growth, which naturally becomes active when cancer cells are deprived of nutrients. But the current research indicates that as cancer cells starve the protein “flips” molecular switches that enable the cancer cells to invade surrounding healthy tissues.

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New Test Gives Earlier Detection of Mesothelioma

A research team out of Oxford University says they have created a test that could allow earlier detection of mesothelioma in patients, giving their doctors useful time to treat the rare asbestos-related cancer.

By looking at the pleural fluid samples from more than 200 patients of a respiratory clinic, the research team discovered that mesothelioma patients had meothelin levels that were six times higher than patients with secondary lung cancers and 10 times higher than patients with benign conditions. Presently, doctors use a diagnostic test known as pleural fluid cytology, a lab test that looks for cancer cells; however, the test is not very sensitive.

According to a report issued in the American Journal of Respiratory Critical Care Medicine, the test examines amounts of a protein closely associated to mesothlelioma that is found in fluid around the lungs. Several conditions could cause extra fluid in the lining of the lungs. However, nine out of 10 people with mesothelioma suffer from the condition, which cause difficult breathing as well as chest pain.

Mesothelioma is a rare form of cancer caused by exposure to asbestos and breathing asbestos fibers. It is a very dangerous disease, which is frequently at a very advanced stage when a mesothelioma diagnosis is made. Early symptoms may include shortness of breath, chest wall pain or significant weight loss. Since the mesothelioma symptoms are not always realized, by the time the cancer is diagnosed, the average survival time is often under a year.

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Mesothelioma Diagnosis Improved by New Tests

A combination of two genetic tests is more sensitive at distinguishing mesothelioma from normal cells than either test alone, according to a new study in the journal Cancer Cytopathology.

Cytology—a technique that looks at the structure and properties of cells—is one method used to diagnose mesothelioma. The advantage to this technique is that it can be performed from fluid that is easily removed from a patient’s body, without the need for invasive surgery. Yet cytology is not always accurate. It often has false-negative results. Researchers have been looking for new ways to improve its sensitivity.

Investigators at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston wanted to determine whether the combination of two genetic tests, used together with cytology, might be more precise than either test alone for diagnosing patients who are suspected of having mesothelioma. The first genetic test, called karyotyping, analyzes the cell’s chromosomes to look for evidence of cancer. The second, called fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH), uses fluorescent tags to look for specific segments of DNA in cells.

The researchers examined fluid taken from the space outside the lungs and abdominal cavities (pleural and peritoneal effusions) of 48 patients who were suspected of having mesothelioma. When they performed FISH together with karyotype analysis, the researchers discovered that the combination of tests almost doubled the sensitivity—to nearly 60%.

“I think this would be useful in the initial diagnosis of mesothelioma. It might also be useful in patients who have been treated, to see whether they still have the disease,” says study author Rachel Factor, MD, a former fellow in the Brigham and Women’s Hospital Department of Pathology, and currently an instructor of Pathology at Boston Medical Center. Radiation or chemotherapy treatment can alter cells, causing them to look like mesothelioma, and making it more difficult for doctors to determine whether treatment has actually eradicated the cancer. The test also could be helpful for diagnosing patients who are unable to undergo surgery, according to Dr. Factor.

This study indicates that combining karyotyping and FISH can improve the sensitivity of current cytologic methods for diagnosing mesothelioma; however the test is far from perfect. Even when karyotyping and FISH are combined, they still result in a large number of false-negative results. The sensitivity could be improved if researchers used additional FISH probes, but many of these probes are not yet commercially available. Additional research will help fine-tune the test, but for now, just knowing that the combination of karyotyping and FISH effectively detects mesothelioma from fluids is promising, Dr. Factor says.

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Newest Mesothelioma Study Showing Promise

According to a recently published study in the Journal of Thoracic Oncology, using treatment planning techniques such as intensity modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) could be beneficial for malignant pleural mesothelioma patients.

Pleural mesothelioma is a rare type of cancer almost exclusively caused by asbestos exposure. The majority of cases take at least 20 years to occur after the initial exposure to asbestos and most patients are unaware of the development of the disease. If the disease is caught early enough, multiple forms of treatment can be used to combat the cancer, known as multimodality therapy.

A multimodality therapy approach involving a surgical procedure called an extrapleural pneumonectomy (EPP), chemotherapy and radiotherapy is often recommended for patients diagnosed during the early stages of pleural mesothelioma. However, planning radiotherapy treatment after EPP can be complicated due to the large target area, the high doses required to prevent recurrence and the proximity of vital organs and other important structures.

V. Gupta and colleagues analyzed the local and nodal (lymph nodes) recurrence in patients treated with EPP and radiotherapy to determine whether IMRT could be used as a treatment method.

The study consisted of 86 patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma who had undergone radiotherapy and an EPP. The radiotherapy technique included a combination of photons and electrons to maximize the dosage to the targeted area.

The results of the study revealed that only 10 percent of patients developed late grade three pulmonary toxicity and no patients passed away.  V. Gupta and colleagues concluded, “IMRT’s advantages must be balanced against the increased risk of fatal pulmonary toxicity.”

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Gene Tests can provide More Information about Mesothelioma Patients

According to a recently published report a type of gene testing could help to determine certain information about mesothelioma patients. The results of a study were recently published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, with officials claiming that this certain type of gene testing could determine a couple of important factors.

The gene testing that is at the centre of the study involves looking at the ratios of four genes. Researchers involved in the study have claimed that this type of testing can help to predict the survival odds for mesothelioma patients, enabling medics to work out which patients have the best chances of survival.

Another thing that this type of gene testing can apparently help with is to help determine which mesothelioma patients are likely to make the best candidates for surgery. This could help in the treatment of patients that have this form of cancer, which is notoriously difficult to diagnose and treat.

The report stated: “Patients whose gene ratio test results predict a good prognosis after surgery may more confidently select the treatment option that includes surgery. Patients assigned to the predicted poor outcome group…could be counseled to forgo surgery, which would not benefit them, and to seek best supportive care.”

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A New Cause of Mesothelioma?

When people hear the term mesothelioma, asbestos usually comes to mind. This is because it is very commonly known that asbestos is a leading cause of this malicious disease. Regulations in recent years have put a halt to asbestos use, and many efforts have been made to remove asbestos
 from as many homes and other buildings as possible. While this is certainly an encouraging thing, it is worrisome to discover that a whole other threat sits on the horizon when it comes to mesothelioma and general health: nanotubes.

Hailed as revolutionary components which contribute to the development of many exciting forms of nanotechnology, nanotubes - or carbon nanotubes - are already being used in many forms and applications. One of the most popular ways that carbon nanotubes are used is in electrical circuitry. The unique properties of nanotubes can made electricity work much more efficiently, at a much smaller scale.