Treatments for Mesothelioma Under Investigation

Treatments for Mesothelioma Under Investigation

Researchers continually find ways to treat diseases that seem counter-intuitive to the rest of us. There are hundreds of clinical trials underway at any given time. Clinical trials are research programs that are approved for trial on humans. These trials are restricted to people who meet inclusion and exclusion criteria for that specific study. Clinical trials conducted through four trial phases, each involving a larger number of participants. The fourth phase is a post marketing study.

Several clinical trials are using gene therapy to stimulate immune responses in humans. One treatment in Phase I involves injecting a dose of a gene therapy involving a virus thymidine kinase into the intrapleural space (between the two pleural mesothelial membranes that line the lungs and ribcage) twice daily for 3 days. This treatment showed sufficient promise in the treatment of pleural mesothelioma to recommend it for Phase II testing. Several other gene therapy trials by different groups of researchers use variations of gene therapy with promising results. These trials involved patients with localized pleural mesothelioma.

A double-blind study in Phase II Trial will compare the results of administering the combination of Gemcitabine and Cisplatin with, and without Bevacizumab, a drug that inhibits the growth of blood vessels that can nourish new cancer cells in the hope that the tumor will shrink.

Pemetrexed combined with Cisplatin was compared to Cisplatin alone in a Phase III trial involving patients with metastatic pleural mesothelioma (MPM). The combination of both drugs with the addition of vitamin B12 and folic acid “resulted in superior survival time, time to progression, and response rates…” Adding the vitamins reduced toxicity.

Another study in Phase I involves Pemetrexed and Carboplatin in patients with MPM. During Phase I some of the patients experienced toxicity related to the dosage, however, 70% of the patients experienced improvement in their symptoms after only two courses of treatment. Time to progression was delayed 305 days (about ten months) and median survival time 451 days (about fifteen months.)

Photodynamic therapy is another approach that is currently being studied. Patients are pretreated with light-sensitive molecules that cause the cancer cells to become sensitive to light. During surgery, these cells are exposed to light of a specific wavelength. Though there have been positive results, this treatment also requires more study.

In comparison, the patients who qualified for these clinical trials had a life expectancy of six to nine months at the time they entered the trials. While there is still a long way to go, scientists are working to find the key to curing mesothelioma. In the past surgery was done as a palliative treatment.

Fifteen years ago researchers were hopeful that surgery combined with chemotherapy, radiation therapy would provide more significant results than each give separately. Today, therapy combining surgery with chemotherapy, photodynamic therapy and gene therapy are producing encouraging results.

You may be entitled to compensation if you have received a diagnosis of mesothelioma or asbestosis. Please visit the website of Parker, Dumler & Kiely, LLP, the experienced mesothelioma lawyers in Baltimore, Maryland and Washington, D.C.

Mesothelioma Treatment Gets Boost with New Diagnostic Test

Mesothelioma Treatment Gets Boost with New Diagnostic Test
Israeli-based MicroRNA company, Rosetta Genomics, has made a giant leap in cancer diagnosis by announcing the commercial availability of its third diagnostic test, miRview (TM) meso.

This breakthrough marks the first molecularly-based test that can accurately diagnose mesothelioma from other types of cancers found in the lung.

MicroRNAs are recently-discovered RNAs that consist of a chain of nucleotide units, each made of a nitrogenous base, a ribose sugar and a phosphate. Although similar to DNA, RNA is single-stranded, while DNA is double-stranded. MicroRNAs provide the ability to treat and diagnose a variety of human illnesses and conditions.

One of the most devastating types of asbestos-related disease is known as malignant mesothelioma, a fatal lung ailment that is directly linked to asbestos exposure. One of the most difficult tasks for physicians that treat mesothelioma is diagnosing the illness, making the test especially important to treating the disease at an early stage of development.

Diagnosis of the disease does not typically occur until the later stages of development have been reached, equating to a poor patient prognosis. Symptoms and warning signs of mesothelioma typically include shortness of breath, chest pain and weight loss, resembling symptoms felt by other less serious conditions. Most individuals who develop mesothelioma contract the disease through occupational exposure where they inhaled airborne asbestos fibers were exposed to asbestos dust through other means while on the job.

Rosetta Genomics is one of the world’s leading developers of microRNA-based diagnostic tools that offer patients and physicians an objective method of identifying many types of cancer. The company believes that using microRNAs as biomarkers in the development of diagnostic tools will enable several advantages over other methods.

“Ruling out mesothelioma from lung cancer for individuals that were exposed to asbestos can be difficult and challenging,” noted Harvey Pass, MD, Division Chief for Thoracic Surgery and Oncology at the New York University Langone Medical Center.

The hope of early cancer detection for asbestos victims is to increase survival rates and address significant needs in the medical field for the next century. Rosetta Genomics’ efforts in leading the development of microRNA-based diagnostic tools will hopefully continue to advance future patient care and management.

“I am sure that this test will become an important tool for both oncologists and pathologists in obtaining the right diagnosis in these patients,” Pass said.

For more information on mesothelioma treatment, visit the Mesothelioma Cancer Center.