Mesothelioma relapse patients may benefit from pemetrexed-based treatment

Italian researchers are testing pemetrexed-based drugs as a second-line treatment option for mesothelioma relapse. Pemetrexed inhibits cellular formation of DNA and RNA, which cells need to survive and to grow. A study published in medical journal, Lung Cancer, covered study details.

Mesothelioma is a rare cancer of lung lining and lining of other abdominal cavities. It is caused almost exclusively by asbestos fibers, which, once inhaled, can begin a mutation process leading to growth of irregular malignant tumors. Mesothelioma affects a rising fifteen to twenty thousand people worldwide; it is believed that thousands of additional cases go unreported, particularly in developing countries where asbestos use high and minimally regulated.

Mesothelioma is characterized by a long latency period, between twenty and fifty years. When symptoms demonstrate they include coughing, wheezing and signs reflective of a respiratory infection. Mesothelioma treatments include surgery, chemotherapy, radiation therapy, and palliative care. There is no known cure for mesothelioma.

In the Italian study, researchers specifically found that pemetrexed drugs benefited mesothelioma patients as a second-line treatment when the same patient had benefited from same-type first-line treatments.

Thirty-one patients who had received pemetrexed-based drugs for mesothelioma at least once before where administered the same drug for relapse occurrences between 2004 and 2009. All of these patients were 3 months or more beyond their last treatments. Fifteen received pemetrexed-based drugs alone, while 16 were treated with a combination of pemetrexed-based and the current standard platinum-based drugs.

Forty-eight percent of patients tested showed shrunken tumors or tumors that had stopped growing. A 10.5 month average progression-free survival time also followed for the 48% of patients responding well to treatments. This additional survival time was consistent for patients who had experienced an average of 12 months progression-free survival time following first-line same-type treatments. Patients that did not experience as much as 12 months progression-free survival time after first-line treatments averaged only 2.5 months following second-line same-type treatments.

A Japanese study published in the International Journal of Clinical Oncology reported similar findings. Patients who responded well to pemetrexed-based drugs as a first-line treatment benefited from the same type second-line treatments.

Study authors concluded, however, that more research is necessary to better decide how to treat relapse in mesothelioma cases.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 18th, 2011 at 8:14 AM and is filed under General, Treatments. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

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Nanoparticles Show Promise in Combination Chemotherapy Treatment

A number of studies have shown that combination chemotherapy (using two or more cancer drugs simultaneously) can help improve treatment of some cancer types. Regulation of combination dosages has been difficult, however, due to the lack of accuracy associated with drug dissemination.

Specifically, past studies have shown that combination therapies have difficulty targeting cancer cells to deliver effective results. Now, researchers at MIT and Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) report advances in nanoparticles technology that may improve precision of dosage delivery.

In the past, nanoparticles have been used to alter cancer drugs in a way that helps them seek out and bond specifically to cancerous tumor cells. Through such engineering, the BWH team has found a way to dramatically improve the delivery of cisplatin and docetaxel in concert. Due to the physiological differences of these two drugs, combination treatments had previously proven difficult to regulate.

However, in tests performed on prostate cancer cells, the BWH team reports the delivery of precise doses for both medications. The results show promise in improving the effectiveness of combination chemotherapy on a broad scale. Since precision also allows for effective results at lower dosages, side effects felt from chemotherapy may also be reduced.

Previous nanoparticles technologies only allowed for combination treatment that involved medications that were chemically similar. This new way, however, opens the door for a wide variety of new targeted combination options.

The BWH team specifically chose cisplatin and docetaxel because they are commonly used to treat a variety of cancers. As a result, there is potential for the combination treatment to show benefits beyond the scope of prostate cancer.

Source:
http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2010/nanoparticle-chemotherapy-1005.html
http://www.nanotech-now.com/news.cgi?story_id=40281

This entry was posted on Monday, December 13th, 2010 at 11:17 am and is filed under cancer treatment. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

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Early diagnosis promotes effective treatment

Early diagnosis prevails as the most recognized factor contributing to increased survival in mesothelioma patients. While the same can be said of many diseases, and specifically many cancers, it’s particularly true in the case mesothelioma owing to a variety of variables.

Mesothelioma, a cancer which affects primarily the area around the lungs, abdomen or heart, is caused by exposure to asbestos fibers. The disease takes varying amounts of time to develop from patient to patient, and has been known to occur in cases with widely differing levels of exposure to the dangerous mineral. One of the defining characteristics of the disease is its long latency period, or the unusual amount of time that it takes for malignant tumors to develop after exposure to asbestos fibers occurs. In some patients, it can take as long as fifty years for the disease to present from the time of initial exposure.

An early diagnosis occurs most often in patients who are younger, healthier, and more fit to recover from the harsh mesothelioma treatments prescribed by doctors who intend to attack the disease. The vast majority of mesothelioma patients are beyond retirement age and already experiencing failing health; as such their suggested treatments are often confined to palliative measures aimed at decreasing pain and discomfort rather than attacking the cancer itself. In the rare cases when the disease is diagnosed early, doctors may prescribe radical treatment regimens such as curative surgery combined with intra-pleural chemotherapy and radiotherapy – a harsh treatment which is difficult to recover from, but one intended to eradicate malignant tissues.

Limited spreading of the cancer is also a benefit of early diagnosis, in addition to relative youth and ability to recover. Mesothelioma which can be contained and treated in one, localized site is more likely to be effectively destroyed without causing irreparable collateral damage to the surrounding tissues.

Unfortunately, effecting an early diagnosis continues to be difficult. Last year the Oxford Centre for Respiratory Medicine contributed a study on improved diagnosis methods to the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine. The study involved 167 volunteers and investigated the efficacy of measuring mesothelin in pleural fluids as a new method for mesothelioma diagnosis.

The study, like others of its kind, was promising but not practically applicable. The best method of early diagnosis still lies in patients discussing any history they have in the asbestos industry with their doctors, and completing a biopsy as soon as possible.

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 30th, 2010 at 8:09 AM and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

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New Mesothelioma diagnosis and treatment protocol published

The European Guidelines for Medical Oncology (ESMO) have published a new guide to mesothelioma diagnosis and treatment, an addition that the journal hopes will increase early diagnoses and improve treatment efficacy. The protocol is particularly important due to the terminal disease’s relative infrequency, its general symptoms, and the profound impact that early diagnosis can have on survival times.

Mesothelioma, an aggressive and terminal cancer of a specific tissue which encases the body’s vital organs, is caused almost exclusively by asbestos exposure. The disease can take from twenty to fifty years to develop from initial exposure to asbestos, and presents with symptoms shared by a variety of general ailments. The long latency period and vague symptoms make it particularly difficult to diagnose, and its aggressive progression makes it an incredibly dangerous disease with a normally grim prognosis. The publication in the European Guidelines for Medical Oncology provide some standard diagnostic and treatment procedures which hope to help doctors diagnose mesothelioma more quickly and treat it more efficiently.

The guidelines state that one of the first symptoms of the disease is often shortness of breath and varying degrees of chest pain. An X-ray can help to discern whether the chest wall has begun to thicken – another symptom of the disease – and a test performed on the fluid accumulating in the chest cavity along with an audit of the patient’s occupational history can help to narrow the possibilities. If all tests at this point indicate a possibility of mesothelioma, the new guidelines suggest a biopsy to confirm the diagnosis.

In addition to symptomatic diagnosis, the guidelines discuss the possibility of further inferring a positive diagnosis by recognizing two specific protein markers found in the patient’s blood serum. While the role these proteins play is still relatively uncertain their presence has been correlated with a positive mesothelioma diagnosis.

A wide variety of experimental treatments exist for mesothelioma, but the ESMO report continues to support the traditional treatment methods of surgery, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy. Surgery, claims the new guidelines, should only be performed in early stages of the disease and should be followed by chemotherapy and combination radiotherapy where necessary. A variety of combination, or multi-modal, therapies – that is, collections of specific drugs and administration techniques – exist which have shown particular efficacy in different circumstances.

While mesothelioma is still considered a rare disease, its long latency period suggests that diagnoses will continue to rise considerably. Guidelines such as the new ESMO publication could help doctors to deal with rising instances of the disease.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 4th, 2010 at 4:37 PM and is filed under News, Treatments. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

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