Mesothelioma Help Cancer News
Mesothelioma Treatment Breakthrough May Come From Another Rare Disease
Mesothelioma patients may someday benefit from research into Huntington’s Disease, another rare disease. Researchers discovered that patients with Huntington’s Disease have a significantly less chance than the general population of getting cancer. Now, the researchers report that better understanding what it is about the disease that can kill off cancer cells could lead them to a breakthrough treatment for all types of cancer.
A team of researchers from Northwestern University found that the gene that drives the progression of Huntington’s Disease, a rare neurodegenerative disorder, is also highly toxic to cancer cells. The huntingtin gene, that plays an important role in neurons in the brain, can become mutated by an over abundance of repeating RNA sequences, leading to the rare disorder. The nerve cells of the brain are vulnerable to these deadly genes, and, according to the researchers, cancer cells are even more susceptible to the genes. In fact, the scientists have dubbed it the “super assassin gene” due to the fact that it is so toxic that it kills off cancer cells.
“This molecule is a super assassin against all tumor cells,” said senior author Marcus Peter, the Tom D. Spies Professor of Cancer Metabolism at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. “We’ve never seen anything this powerful.”
https://news.northwestern.edu/stories/2018/february/huntingtons-disease-provides-new-cancer-weapon/
In the United States, a rare disease status is assigned to a disease or disorder if it affects fewer than 200,000 Americans at any given time. There are approximately 30,000 cases of Huntington’s Disease in the U.S. An estimated 3,000 Americans are diagnosed with mesothelioma each year.
Huntington’s Disease deteriorates a person’s physical and mental abilities, most often affecting adults between the ages of 30 and 50. There is no cure for the fatal genetic disorder. Mesothelioma, an asbestos-caused cancer, typically affects men in their 60’s or older who worked around asbestos decades earlier. Mesothelioma is also an incurable, fatal condition.
The researchers found a way to deliver the molecule as a treatment compound via a nanoparticle, a microscopic drug delivery system, to mice models with human ovarian cancer tumors. The team reported three key results:
- The tumor growth was “significantly reduced;”
- There was no toxicity to the mice; and
- The tumors did not build up resistance to the drug.
Pleased with the results, the team will begin to explore using the molecule as a novel form of anticancer reagents. There is much more research to be done, however, the team is hopeful that this breakthrough will be useful on all types of cancer, possibly even mesothelioma.
The study was published in the Feb. 12 issue of the journal EMBO Reports.
http://embor.embopress.org/content/early/2018/02/07/embr.201745336
Drug That “Shows Promise” Against Rare Ovarian Cancer May Lead to Mesothelioma Therapy
A genomics company announced last week that a drug approved for the treatment of leukemia “shows promise” against a rare type of ovarian cancer. Researchers identified a gene found in the cancer, also known to be associated with lung cancer and pancreatic cancer, as the target saying the drug “holds the potential for rapidly improving outcomes” in cancer patients. Continued research could uncover benefits in the treatment of mesothelioma, another rare cancer.
Inspired by a 22-year-old woman who died from ovarian cancer over 10 years ago, a team of researchers, led by the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen), set out to find a drug that could effectively fight a rare form of the cancer, small cell carcinoma of the ovary hypercalcemic type (SCCOHT), according to a March 1 press release from Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen). The team identified a mutation of the SMARCA4 gene as a driver for the deadly cancer that primarily affects women in their 20s. They then turned their focus to the drug ponatinib, a type of kinase inhibitor drug, that would interfere with the tumors’ reliance on particular kinase pathways.
In the study, the researchers found that the drug they considered the “most effective clinically approved RTK inhibitor” did its job. In laboratory models of SCCOHT tumors, ponatinb delayed tumor-doubling time by four-fold, while reducing tumor volumes by as much as 58.6 percent.
“Current treatment for this devastating cancer has such poor response rates and extreme toxicity that we must find better therapeutics,” said Dr. Jeffrey Trent, TGen President and Research Director, and the senior author of the study. “Our work identifies a new treatment strategy that could provide these young women with improved patient benefit.”
Like SCCOHT, mesothelioma, the signature cancer of asbestos exposure, is highly aggressive with a grim prognosis. The survival for mesothelioma patients varies from just four to 18 months after diagnosis. According to TGen, SCCOHT has a two-year survival rate of less than 35 percent.
Many researchers have found that kinases are involved in the gradual transformation of normal tissue in the lining of the lung into malignant pleural mesothelioma after exposure to asbestos. Various studies have confirmed that finding an effective kinase inhibitor may be the key to fighting mesothelioma as well.
The team concluded that further investigation of the anti-cancer drug for SCCOHT is warranted.
Read the study in the Feb. 9 issue of Clinical Cancer Research.
Could Vaccine Under Development “Eliminate” Mesothelioma and Other Cancers?
It has been years since there has been a significant breakthrough in the fight against lung cancer or mesothelioma. The cancers are still a death sentence for many patients, with the 10-year survival rate just five percent. However, scientists continue to spend countless hours in a quest to find an effective treatment for the aggressive cancers. Now, researchers report that by turning to the latest trend in research by targeting immune cells they may be one step closer to finding a cure for many types of cancer.
Ronald Levy, MD, professor of oncology, and Instructor of Medicine Idit Sagiv-Barfi, PhD, both of Stanford University School of Medicine, partnered up in research designed to activate T cells, or immune cells, in tumors. They injected two immune-stimulating agents into mouse models, according to a Jan. 31 press release from Stanford. What they found was that the drugs worked “startlingly well” and successfully eliminated “all traces of cancer” in the mice, including distant, untreated metastases.
“When we use these two agents together, we see the elimination of tumors all over the body,” said Dr. Levy. “This approach bypasses the need to identify tumor-specific immune targets and doesn’t require wholesale activation of the immune system or customization of a patient’s immune cells.”
Mesothelioma is a rare form of cancer typically affecting the lining of the lungs. Primarily caused by exposure to airborne asbestos fibers, most cases of mesothelioma are diagnosed 30 years or more after exposure. Like many cancers, treating mesothelioma is challenging. However, recent successes with immunotherapyhave given mesothelioma patients significant improvements in their health.
Immunotherapy uses the body’s own immune system to target and destroy cancer cells. The aim of immunotherapy is to harness the strength of the immune system in a specifically focused attack on cancer cells.
See the success Mavis Nye of England had with immunotherapy.
The Stanford pair wanted to build on these successes, but eliminate the major downsides of immunotherapy, such as life-threatening complications, extended preparation, and costly treatment, that the current immunotherapy treatments cause.
The Stanford researchers found that by injecting their compound directly into the tumor they can reactivate the T-cells to then “lead the charge” to kill the cancer cells. T-cells are a type of white blood cell that continuously roam around within our bodies, seeking out and destroying cancer cells and infections. In the case of mesothelioma, and many other aggressive cancers, the cancer cells avoid detection from the T-cells and the cancer thrives.
“All of these immunotherapy advances are changing medical practice,” Levy said. “Our approach uses a one-time application of very small amounts of two agents to stimulate the immune cells only within the tumor itself. In the mice, we saw amazing, bodywide effects, including the elimination of tumors all over the animal.”
In the study, the “dual immunotherapy” not only shrunk tumors that had metastasized but also led to long-term survival.
The agents used in the trial are currently in separate clinical trials, but the Stanford team hopes to combine them for “great benefit for cancer patients.”
Mesothelioma is diagnosed in close to 3,000 Americans each year with the same number dying from the disease. Research such as this is critical for bringing hope to the cancer community.
Find the results of the study in the Jan. 31 issue of Science Translational Medicine.
Understanding Reason for Drug Resistance May Lead to Increased Effectiveness of Mesothelioma Drug
Researchers report they better understand why patients eventually develop resistance to the anti-cancer drug Tagrisso (osimertinib) that targets the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutation in lung cancer patients. Using quantum and molecular mechanics, the researchers found “subtle changes” in the biomarker that left the drug ineffective. This finding could point researchers to a way to enhance the drug’s effectiveness for lung cancer and mesothelioma patients.
EGFR is a protein that is an anti-cancer drug target due to its role in cell proliferation. Osimertinib is an EGFR inhibitor for the way it binds to the EGFR protein and switches off a cancer cell‘s ability to spread and divide. The drug is generally effective in stopping the spread of cancer, however, according to researchers from the University of Bristol in the UK, most patients develop resistance within one year of treatment. Drug resistance arises, note the researchers, “because the EGFR protein mutates, so that the drug binds less tightly.”
The researchers took a closer diagnosis at why one particular mutation, the L718Q EGFR mutation in which just a single amino acid was changed, led the cancer to fight off, or resist, osimertinib. It took a unique collaboration “between medicinal and computational chemists and clinical oncologists” from the Universities of Bristol and Parma in Italy to resolve the reason for the resistance, according to a Feb. 12 press release from the University of Bristol.
Through a series of sophisticated molecular simulations the team revealed that the mutant protein L718Q “changes in a way that stops the drug reacting and binding to it.” The simulations ultimately allowed them to delve into the chemical reactions in EGFR, and reveal the “mechanisms” behind the drug resistance that, according to the researchers, “can be subtle and non-obvious.”
“Now the challenge is to exploit this discovery in the development of novel drugs targeting EGFR mutants for cancer treatment in the future,” said Adrian Mulholland, Professor of Chemistry at the University of Bristol.
According to a 2009 article in Current Drug Targets, EGFR overexpression has been shown in more than 50% of pleural mesothelioma patients. Approximately 15% of patients with lung cancer in the U.S. express EGFR mutations.
Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in the United States, with an estimated 234,030 new diagnoses and 154,050 deaths in 2018, according to the American Cancer Society. Pleural mesothelioma is a form of lung cancer, affecting the lining of the lungs, with 3,000 new diagnoses each year, and nearly the same number of Americans dying from the terminal cancer. These grim statistics make continued research into increasing the efficacy of cancer drugs critical.
Read the study in the Feb. 3 issue of Chemical Science.
Support National Cancer Prevention Month to Help Raise Awareness of Mesothelioma
The Prevent Cancer Foundation announced its support of National Cancer Prevention Month. The month of February serves as a time to promote the organization’s belief that an “emphasis on prevention, not just treatment, could help decrease cancer deaths and incidence rates.” This month is also yet another opportunity to raise much-needed awareness for mesothelioma.
The primary focus of prevention month is to let the public know that through diet, exercise and lifestyle changes they can prevent many cancers from developing in the first place. In fact, according to statistics, just five percent of cancers are hereditary, giving many control over their health. Unfortunately, that isn’t the case for mesothelioma patients who develop the cancer after being exposed to a deadly fiber – sometimes decades earlier.
Mesothelioma is a rare form of cancer typically affecting the lining of the lungs. Caused by exposure to airborne asbestos fibers, usually from industrial products and machinery at the victim’s workplace, most cases of mesothelioma are diagnosed 30 years or more after exposure. The only way to prevent the cancer from developing in the first place is to eliminate exposure to asbestos.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has stated that asbestos is a carcinogen and there is no safe level of exposure. However, the agency was overruled in its 1989 attempt to ban its use in the U.S., and it is still legal today. Some uses of asbestos in the U.S. were limited in the 1970s, and many uses were banned altogether, such as in commercial paper, in artificial fireplace embers, wall patching compounds, and flooring felt, but it is still legal in other products.
“Together, we can end asbestos-caused cancers,” said Linda Reinstein, the president/CEO and co-founder of the Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization, who is doing her part to help bring a ban to asbestos in the U.S.
The ADAO is committed to preventing mesothelioma from destroying the lives of others, and provides these facts about mesothelioma and asbestos:
- Asbestos is legal and lethal in the U.S.
- Asbestos kills 40 Americans every day.
- Asbestos causes mesothelioma and lung, gastrointestinal, laryngeal, colorectal, and ovarian cancers as well as non-malignant lung, and respiratory diseases.
Make sure you get informed about the causes of preventable cancer, and spread the word to help decrease the number of cancer diagnoses in the country.
Whether you are encouraging friends and family to watch what they eat or to get moving a little more, also let them know about the dangers of asbestos.
“It remains imperative that we identify strategies to enhance the dissemination and implementation of our current knowledge of cancer prevention,” notes the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) announcing its support of prevention month.
Like National Cancer Research Month on Facebook and follow #cancerpreventionmonth on social media to show your support.
“The Prevent Cancer Foundation envisions a future where cancer incidence and mortality will be significantly reduced through preventive measures.”
Nearly 3,000 Americans are diagnosed with mesothelioma each year. Help do your part to change that statistic.
For more information about National Cancer Prevention Month see the Prevent Cancer Foundation. https://preventcancer.org/
Sources:
- U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
https://www.epa.gov/asbestos/learn-about-asbestos#asbestos - American Association for Cancer Research
https://www.aacrfoundation.org/Pages/february-is-national-cancer-prevention-month.aspx - ADAO
http://www.asbestosdiseaseawareness.org/archives/46254 - Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization
http://www.asbestosdiseaseawareness.org/
Free Mesothelioma Patient & Treatment Guide
We’d like to offer you our in-depth guide, “A Patient’s Guide to Mesothelioma,” absolutely free of charge.
It contains a wealth of information and resources to help you better understand the condition, choose (and afford) appropriate treatment, and exercise your legal right to compensation.
Download Now