Mesothelioma: Promising Developments In Early Diagnosis And Treatment

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New results presented at 3rd European Lung Cancer Conference in Geneva, Switzerland show important steps being made to improve the diagnosis and treatment of malignant pleural mesothelioma, an aggressive cancer of the outer lining of the lungs caused by asbestos exposure.

Micro RNAs speed diagnosis

Australian researchers have identified a small molecule that is more abundant in the blood of people with the deadly lung disease mesothelioma than in healthy people. Their findings bring scientists a step closer to being able to diagnose mesothelioma earlier than is currently possible.

At present diagnosing mesothelioma depends on the availability of a lung biopsy that contains enough tumor tissue. However suitable biopsies are not always available, which can leave doctors uncertain about the patient's diagnosis, sometimes resulting in a delay to the start of treatment. "If doctors could use a diagnostic marker based on a simple blood test to help with diagnosis, it could circumvent the problem of availability of tumor tissue and help to accelerate the diagnostic process," says Dr Michaela Kirschner from the Asbestos Diseases Research (Concord Hospital Campus) in Sydney, who reported the new findings.

So far a number of proteins have been proposed as blood-based markers for malignant pleural mesothelioma; however none of these has so far reached the accuracy required for routine clinical use.

In the new study, Dr Kirschner and colleagues explored whether molecules known as microRNAs in blood could serve as a diagnostic marker for the disease. Studying 5 patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma and 3 healthy controls, they identified 17 microRNAs with significantly differential abundance in the two groups. They then validated these miRNAs in a series of blood samples from 15 patients and 13 controls. These studies revealed that the level of a particular microRNA known as miR-625-3p was four-fold higher in the blood of mesothelioma patients.

Measuring levels of that molecule in blood samples allowed the researchers to discriminate between MPM patients and controls with an accuracy of 82.4%.

"Detailed analyses of our two independent sample series have shown that miR-625-3p performs as well as any previously proposed protein marker for detecting mesothelioma," Dr Kirschner said. "However, like most diagnostic markers, miR-625-3p is not 100% accurate, and therefore there is a chance the assay will produce both false positives as well as false negatives. Further studies on larger sample sizes are needed to see whether the accuracy of miR-625-3p can be confirmed or even turn out to be better than currently observed."

"Should further studies prove that microRNAs in plasma are accurate enough for the diagnosis of malignant pleural mesothelioma, this will lead to the development of a diagnostic test for routine clinical use," Dr Kirschner said. "This test would then represent a relatively simple way to circumvent the problems associated with obtaining a tissue biopsy. For a patient this would mean that appropriate treatment could be instituted at an earlier stage."

High-dose radiotherapy gives good response rates

Despite a widespread belief that mesothelioma does not respond to radiotherapy, Australian researchers have found that it may have the best response rates of any single treatment for patients with disease largely confined to one side of the chest.

Between 2003 and 2011, Dr Malcolm Feigen and colleagues from Austin Health Radiation Oncology Center in Melbourne gave radiotherapy to 45

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Promising developments in early diagnosis and treatment of mesothelioma

ScienceDaily (Apr. 18, 2012) — New results presented at 3rd European Lung Cancer Conference in Geneva, Switzerland show important steps being made to improve the diagnosis and treatment of malignant pleural mesothelioma, an aggressive cancer of the outer lining of the lungs caused by asbestos exposure.
See Also:Health & MedicineMesotheliomaLung CancerDiseases and ConditionsToday's HealthcareLung DiseaseHeart DiseaseReferenceMetastasisMesotheliomaLung cancerGlioma
Micro RNAs speed diagnosis
Australian researchers have identified a small molecule that is more abundant in the blood of people with the deadly lung disease mesothelioma than in healthy people. Their findings bring scientists a step closer to being able to diagnose mesothelioma earlier than is currently possible.
At present diagnosing mesothelioma depends on the availability of a lung biopsy that contains enough tumor tissue. However suitable biopsies are not always available, which can leave doctors uncertain about the patient's diagnosis, sometimes resulting in a delay to the start of treatment. "If doctors could use a diagnostic marker based on a simple blood test to help with diagnosis, it could circumvent the problem of availability of tumor tissue and help to accelerate the diagnostic process," says Dr Michaela Kirschner from the Asbestos Diseases Research (Concord Hospital Campus) in Sydney, who reported the new findings.
So far a number of proteins have been proposed as blood-based markers for malignant pleural mesothelioma; however none of these has so far reached the accuracy required for routine clinical use.
In the new study, Dr Kirschner and colleagues explored whether molecules known as microRNAs in blood could serve as a diagnostic marker for the disease. Studying 5 patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma and 3 healthy controls, they identified 17 microRNAs with significantly differential abundance in the two groups. They then validated these miRNAs in a series of blood samples from 15 patients and 13 controls. These studies revealed that the level of a particular microRNA known as miR-625-3p was four-fold higher in the blood of mesothelioma patients.
Measuring levels of that molecule in blood samples allowed the researchers to discriminate between MPM patients and controls with an accuracy of 82.4%.
"Detailed analyses of our two independent sample series have shown that miR-625-3p performs as well as any previously proposed protein marker for detecting mesothelioma," Dr Kirschner said. "However, like most diagnostic markers, miR-625-3p is not 100% accurate, and therefore there is a chance the assay will produce both false positives as well as false negatives. Further studies on larger sample sizes are needed to see whether the accuracy of miR-625-3p can be confirmed or even turn out to be better than currently observed."
"Should further studies prove that microRNAs in plasma are accurate enough for the diagnosis of malignant pleural mesothelioma, this will lead to the development of a diagnostic test for routine clinical use," Dr Kirschner said. "This test would then represent a relatively simple way to circumvent the problems associated with obtaining a tissue biopsy. For a patient this would mean that appropriate treatment could be instituted at an earlier stage."
High-dose radiotherapy gives good response rates
Despite a widespread belief that mesothelioma does not respond to radiotherapy, Australian researchers have found that it may have the best response rates of any single treatment for patients with disease largely confined to one side of the chest.
Between 2003 and 2011, Dr Malcolm Feigen and colleagues from Austin Health Radiation Oncology Center in Melbourne gave radiotherapy to 45

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Novel noninvasive tests for early cancer detection

ScienceDaily (May 3, 2011) — Researchers at last month's AACR conference in Orlando demonstrated that they are intensifying their efforts to identify and validate various types of biomarkers that are detectable in readily accessible bodily fluids such as blood and urine, reports Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News (GEN). The goal is to detect biosignatures that are more specific and sensitive than existing diagnostic modalities, according to the May 1 issue of GEN .
See Also:Health & MedicineMesotheliomaOvarian CancerDiseases and ConditionsCancerColon CancerToday's HealthcareReferenceOvarian cancerMetastasisNanomedicineMammography
"The molecular diagnostic approach is geared toward finding tumors earlier in the course of disease," says John Sterling, Editor in Chief of GEN. "This could reduce the need for more invasive and costly biopsies and imaging studies and lead to earlier therapeutic intervention."
At the AACR meeting, Harvey Pass, M.D., New York University Langone Medical Center and Cancer Center, discussed his group's experience working in collaboration with SomaLogic to develop an aptamer-based diagnostic to detect malignant mesothelioma in asbestos-exposed individuals. Dr. Pass presented data derived from the application of biomarker subsets to a blinded test set, demonstrating 100% specificity and 80% sensitivity for their ability to distinguish asbestos-exposed controls from mesothelioma cases.
Another presentation pointed out that measurement of CA125 in the blood is the test currently used to monitor ovarian cancer treatment, follow patients for recurrence, and in some cases screen high-risk individuals to detect early-stage disease. In her conference talk, Christine Coticchia, Ph.D., Children's Hospital Boston and Harvard Medical School, emphasized that CA125 is relatively nonspecific for ovarian cancer and uninformative in a substantial percentage of patients. Dr. Coticchia and colleagues are studying a combination of two matrix metalloproteases, MMP-2 and MMP-9, in urine for their utility as biomarkers to predict the presence of ovarian cancer in women with normal CA125 levels.
Other research projects covered in the GEN article include work at Celera, the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, University of Michigan Health System, Gen-Probe, University of California at San Diego Medical Center, Université Laval, Dianon Systems, Aarhus University Hospital, Hvidovre Hospital, University of Copenhagen, and Exiqon.
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Mesothelioma Treatments Are Most Successful When The Cancer Is Caught Early

All cancers, not only mesothelioma cancer, are treated most successfully when the disease is caught very early in its development. Presently, there are no known mesothelioma treatment options that can save a patient's life after it has started to spread throughout their body. The very best that the doctors can do at that point, is to reduce your pain by supplying you extremely powerful drugs and medications.

If you know somebody that has mesothelioma cancer, your chances of also getting it are significantly increased if you live or work in the same building as they do. The reason for that, is this form of cancer only infects people if they come in contact with a material called, asbestos.

Asbestos was widely used to make all kinds of things in the 20th century, and one of them was construction materials. Fortunately, most of the items it was used to manufacture are no longer around. But, it is still in many old buildings that were constructed during this period.

When the scientist discovered that just inhaling its particles in the air could cause mesothelioma cancer, an entire industry was created removing it from buildings built during the 20th century. But, it is no easy task completely renovating a building and removing all of the asbestos. It is extremely expensive and very time consuming, which is why so much of it is still around today.

If you frequent the same building as somebody that has mesothelioma cancer, you should go to your doctor immediately to have test done to see if you have it. If you catch it early enough, the mesothelioma treatment options that are used today, just might be able to save your life. If the test come back negative and show that you do not have it, you are still not completely safe.

Many times it takes years, or even decades for mesothelioma cancer to develop in somebody's body after they have been exposed to asbestos. It is highly recommended that if you have come in contact with asbestos, that each year you have test done to determine if you have it.

Today, the most widely used mesothelioma treatment options are the following; surgery, palliative therapies, radiation therapy, and chemotherapy. The option that your doctor selects for you will be based on many factors which will give you the best chance of survival.

This is a very depressing time for not only the patient, but for the entire family. Most mesothelioma treatment options are not very pleasant experiences, and can make the patient much sicker, until the cancer is no longer present, and they are no longer being utilized.

If you suspect that you or a loved one has this form of cancer, it is imperative that you see your family doctor as soon as possible to have the test done that can either confirm or deny it. Without question, your chances of survival are greatly increased when a mesothelioma treatment is started when this disease is in its very early stages of development.

You can obtain all the information you need about getting Mesothelioma Treatment and knowing exactly what your Mesothelioma Treatment Options are, online at Mesothelioma.us immediately.

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