Mesothelioma Help Cancer News
Is Mesothelioma Treatment Without Side Effects Possible?
Chemotherapy is vital in the treatment of mesothelioma. However, it often results in side effects, such as low blood cell counts, thinned or brittle hair, loss of appetite or weight, diarrhea, nausea and vomiting, that can be difficult for patients to manage and can sometimes outweigh the benefits of the treatment. Now, researchers report they have developed a technique for delivering medications that are “free of side effects.”
Researchers from the University of Virginia School of Medicine report that drugs are designed to target an offending molecule, that which makes a person sick, by completely blocking its access to a cell. By doing so, however, any good that the molecule may offer is also stifled. The team, led by J. Julius Zhu, professor of pharmacology at UVA, determined that molecules have different functions throughout a cell, and they were able to develop a targeted delivery method for drugs that can home in on a specific location of a cell while avoiding those locations that could lead to side effects, according to a July 5 press release from the University.
“The problem with side effects is caused because you just could not distinguish the molecules doing different things in the same cell,” Zhu said. “If you blocked a molecule, you blocked it regardless of what it was doing. And that usually has unwanted side effects.”
Treatment for mesothelioma, a rare, aggressive form of cancer caused by exposure to airborne asbestos fibers is complex and, depending on the stage of the disease, typically involves a multi-modal approach including surgery, radiation and chemotherapy. While these treatment options are among the keys to improve the chances of the battling the disease, they can come with pain and sometimes debilitating side effects leading to a poor quality of life. Patients often need to discontinue their mesothelioma treatments that are killing off the cancer cells because the side effects are nearly worse than the disease.
According to Zhu, the concept behind this targeted approach was “simple,” but the execution of it took many years. The new drugs, he says, will be especially useful for cancers, and “adds a new level of precision to the concept of precision medicine – medicine tailored exactly to a patient’s needs.” Precision medicine has the best chance of helping a mesothelioma patient achieve extended survival.
The technique will also speed up the development of new treatments by letting researchers more quickly understand what molecules are doing and which should be targeted, according to the press release.
Finding a way to safely deliver toxic chemotherapy and other anti-cancer drugs to mesothelioma patients is critically important to allow patients to continue to receive treatments without having other aspects of their health compromised from dangerous side effects.
Nearly 3,000 Americans are diagnosed with mesothelioma each year.
Read the full study in the May 16 issue of the journal Neuron.
https://www.cell.com/neuron/fulltext/S0896-6273(18)30283-6
Be There Through All the Seasons for Those Grieving A Loss to Mesothelioma
“Summertime and the living is easy,” as we change from Spring to Summer things start to slow down for most of us. The hurried pace we usually live at slows, and many of us take the time to enjoy the weather, our families and vacations. This is the time of year that most look forward to.
One of the most welcome things about summer is that it allows us time to reflect on things and make memories that will stay with us. For mesothelioma patients and their families, this time of the year can allow some time to reflect on life before the diagnosis, and now, living with mesothelioma.
Recently, we had lunch with the wife of a patient who recently died from malignant pleural mesothelioma. His journey had been around 10 months from diagnosis to death. This time was spent in an intense battle. He had chemo, surgery, multiple admissions, and couple of separate rehab stints. Through the dark days of winter he would often say that he wanted to go home. His journey was an emotional and physical strain on his wife and family. They did all they could for him, including taking him home. He died at home surrounded by his family.
In talking with his wife, it was clear that the long days of summer were not something that she was looking forward to. After months of talking with doctors, nurses and therapists, of constantly being on the go, time is weighing on her mind. She is reliving their journey and trying to adjust to long days and longer nights.
How do you help someone who is grieving? Like mesothelioma, everyone’s grief is their own. It is personal and belongs to the person experiencing it. When trying to help, remember you cannot fix or repair their situation. Listen and be there for the person. It is important to be present, listen, and lend the support that is needed, not what you think is needed.
Remember you never know what a person is going through in their own life. Grief happens all seasons. Reach out a hand to help. In today’s fast paced world, there is no substitution for human interaction and support during a difficult time.
Could Dying Mesothelioma Cells Make The Surviving Cells Fight Harder to Stay Alive?
The goal of treatments, such as chemotherapy and radiation, is to kill off mesothelioma cells to increase the survival for the patients. But researchers report they discovered dying cancer cells communicate to their surviving cells that can then alter their genetic makeup to fight back the drugs. Finding a way to block this cell-to-cell communication is now the target for development of a novel cancer treatment.
Researchers from The University of Alabama at Birmingham, Russia and South Korea looked closer at the status of cells in glioblastoma tumors to determine the relationship dying cells have with their neighboring active cancer cells. They found that cells undergoing apoptosis, or are dying, send signals to adjacent tumor cells that encourages them to become more aggressive and resist treatment, according to a June 21 press release from UAB announcing the findings.
Dying Cells Send Signals to Counterparts
The team used mouse models injected with a combination of apoptotic and “healthy” glioblastoma cells. When viewed in brain scans, the combination showed “much more aggressive tumor growth” and were “more therapy-resistant” than either the “healthy” cancer cells or the dying cells alone.
The researchers determined the dying cells secrete apoptotic extracellular vesicles (apoEVs) that can alter the RNA of the recipient cells which promotes drug resistance and “aggressive migration” of the cancer cells.
“This mechanism thus becomes a possible target for new therapies to treat glioblastoma, a primary brain cancer, and the mechanism may apply to other cancer types as well,” the researchers determined.
Mesothelioma is a rare, aggressive cancer that leaves oncologists and patients with few treatment options. Typically the patients are treated with chemotherapy, that works temporarily, but the insidious cancer often develops a resistance to the therapy rendering it ineffective.
“Clinically, our data may provide the rationale to the molecular targeting of RNA splicing events or specific splicing factors for novel cancer therapies,” said Ichiro Nakano, M.D., Ph.D., academic neurosurgeon at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and leader of the international study. “This may lead to decreased acquisition of therapy resistance, as well as reduction in the migration of cancer cells.”
Although the researchers did not look at mesothelioma cell apoptosis, research into other aggressive, difficult-to-treat cancers can lead to insight into the asbestos-caused cancer. Nearly 3,000 Americans are diagnosed with some form of mesothelioma each year. Survival is often less than one year.
Read the full study in the June 21 issue of Cancer Cell.
Sources:
- June 21 issue of Cancer Cell
https://www.cell.com/cancer-cell/fulltext/S1535-6108(18)30226-5 - The University of Alabama at Birmingham
http://www.uab.edu/news/research/item/9543-dying-cancer-cells-make-remaining-glioblastoma-cells-more-aggressive-and-therapy-resistant
Mesothelioma Nurse Discusses Suicide Prevention Resources
Recently, two very public figures, who looked like they had it all, committed suicide. Those closest to them revealed that they had struggled with their demons for many years. When someone is a celebrity we think we “know” them: we know their work, but we do not know them.
This is a wake-up call for all of us to be more aware of how we and our loved ones are really feeling. Suicide happens because the person wants their overwhelming ‘pain’ to end. According to research, 90% of people who die by suicide have an existing mental illness or substance abuse problem at the time of their death.
Depression and depressive illness are mood disorders of the brain. It is caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain, a disruption of the brain’s balance. The two chemicals that are thought to be imbalanced are serotonin and norepinephrine. It is not a weakness, or a character problem. The important thing to note is that depression can be successfully treated.
The number of people who seek treatment for an episode of major depression in the U.S. is only 50% of the total that suffer from depression. According to the National Alliance of Mental Health, 80% to 90% of people who seek treatment for depression are treated successfully using therapy and/or medication.
People diagnosed with cancer have a nearly two-times a higher suicide rate than the general population. Being diagnosed with malignant mesothelioma is a life-altering event. There are treatment options, but the options need to include the whole person. Everyone needs to know that when things are looking hopeless or they are in unbearable physical or emotional pain there is help. The feelings are real, but there are treatments that work.
Not to be forgotten, are the families of patients who are being treated for mesothelioma and those who have lost loved ones from mesothelioma. For them, the pain of the loss coupled with other existing issues might make suicide seem like the only option to stop their pain. It is vital for all to realize there is help available and the help does work!
RESOURCES:
www.Save.org – Suicide Awareness Voices of Education
National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-8255
Local Emergency Rooms can also help find you help.
The Potential of Nanoparticles in Treatment of Mesothelioma Patients
In May, Mesothelioma Help reported that researchers from the University of North Carolina Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center found a “promising new nanotechnology-based delivery method” for immunotherapy using nanoparticles. Now, another team of researchers report they have found a way to use this microscopic drug delivery system “for diagnostics, therapy, or both” for cancer care.
In the latest research from the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT), a team of biophysicists report they engineered a way to cover nanoparticles with biological molecules that allows them to deliver therapy and then examine the effect the drug has on the cancer cells. The particles, for example, can carry properties that can home in on the cancer cells to pinpoint the therapy as well as fluorescent properties to light up the cancer cells for diagnostics.
Using theranostics, the integration of therapeutics and diagnostics, in mesothelioma care is an exciting prospect. Most of the treatments used for mesothelioma, a terminal asbestos-caused cancer, eventually become ineffective, but it may not be discovered until the mesothelioma cancer is no longer treatable. With diagnostic capabilities embedded in the nanoparticles, the effectiveness of the treatment can be monitored as needed.
The researchers developed a “molecular glue” using the barnase-barstar protein pair to hold the therapeutic and diagnostic components together. The success of this research is due to this glue that can bind up to one million times greater than other types, and can bind with antibodies, drugs, fluorescent molecules and targeting agents. When the two proteins are tightly bound they form “a bifunctional compound” with both therapeutic and diagnostic properties, that enables targeted drug delivery.
This type of personalized medicine follows the concept that the cancer’s genetic makeup can be used to tailor a patient’s treatment. Mesothelioma can grow at a different rate and respond to different treatments in each patient, that is why mesothelioma patients need treatment that is aimed at their unique characteristics. By allowing the therapeutic aspect of the nanoparticles to be modified, this personalized care optimizes the potential for success of the treatment.
“The demonstrated capabilities show this method to be a promising alternative to commonly used … techniques in nanobiotechnology, theranostics, and clinical applications,” wrote the authors in the study published in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces.
Mesothelioma, a rare form of cancer typically affecting the lining of the lungs, is highly aggressive and is resistant to many cancer treatments making it a difficult disease to treat effectively. The prognosis for mesothelioma patients is usually grim: the average survival time varies from 4 – 18 months after diagnosis. Approximately 3,000 Americans are diagnosed with mesothelioma each year.
The paper was published in the April 27 issue of the journal ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces.
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