Category: Cancer
Even Brief Exposure to Asbestos May Cause Mesothelioma
A recent report in theInternational Journal of Occupational and Environmental Health describes the case of a 58-year-old man who developed mesothelioma from exposure to asbestos-containing gaskets during a high school summer job.
Mesothelioma, a cancer of the lining of the lung, chest cavity and abdominal cavity, is a signature disease of asbestos exposure. According to the article, the man was exposed to crocidolite asbestos starting at age 16 during three summers and for approximately four hours a day during his senior year of high school. He had no further known exposure to asbestos.
Laboratory analysis of samples of lung tissue revealed elevated levels of crocidolite asbestos fibers. The case helps establish that relatively short and/or intense exposure to crocidolite can lead to asbestos disease.
Crocidolite is one of the six naturally-occurring fibrous minerals that are currently regulated as “asbestos.” Asbestos had many commercial applications, including building materials, auto parts and industrial gaskets. But its use was reduced in the last 1970s because of the occupational hazard it posed to workers. All forms of asbestos cause cancer, including mesothelioma and lung cancer, according to the World Health Organization.
It is estimated that between 1940 and 1980, 27 million Americans has significant occupational exposure to asbestos in their workplaces. Exposure to asbestos may cause mesothelioma, a cancer of the lining of the lung and abdomen, as well as lung cancer and asbestosis, a scarring of the lung that causes breathing problems. Chrysotile is the most common form of asbestos while crocidolite is considering among the most deadly.
Approximately, 2,500 to 3,000 people in the U.S. are diagnosed with mesothelioma each year. For most, the symptoms appear 20 years to 50 years after exposure. There is no known cure for mesothelioma, but there are treatment options available including surgery, radiation and chemotherapy to manage the cancer.
Cancer Genetics Symposium Planned in Hawaii to Focus on Mesothelioma
Researchers in cancer genetics will gather in Hawaii in December to discuss the recent discovery of the BAP1 genetic mutation and its link to mesothelioma, melanoma and possibly other cancers. The University of Hawaii Cancer Center and the Queen’s Medical Center will host the international symposium on Dec. 2
Mesothelioma, a cancer of the lining of the lung or abdominal cavity, is typically associated with exposure to asbestos or erionite, a mineral fiber similar to asbestos. Microscopic fibers of asbestos are inhaled and may remain deep in the lung, causing inflammation, scarring and eventually disease.
The third annual Translational Cancer Medicine Symposium will feature more than 20 global experts on cancer genetics including Carol M. Croce, M.D., Director of the Human Cancer Genetics Program at Ohio State University; Joseph Testa, Ph.D., Director of the Genomics Facility at Fox Chase Cancer Center and Michele Carbone, M.D., Director of the University of Hawaii Cancer Center.
A mesothelioma research team at the University of Hawaii Cancer Center led by Carbone announced in August the discovery of BAP1 gene mutation’s link to mesothelioma and other cancers. It is the first study to demonstration that family genetics can influence susceptibility to mesothelioma.
“We are excited to bring these experts to Hawaii to work together to find ways to reduce the suffering and death caused by this mutation,” Cabone said in a prepared statement issued by the University of Hawaii Cancer Center.
Mesothelioma causes the deaths of about 2,500 to 3,000 people a year in the United States and tens of thousands worldwide. People typically develop mesothelioma symptoms 20 years to 50 years after exposure to asbestos, though only a portion of those exposed to asbestos develops mesothelioma. Rates of new cases of mesothelioma in parts of the world including Europe and China, have risen steadily in the past decade.
The identification of the BAP1 cancer syndrome, caused by an inherited mutation of the BAP1 gene, offers a new tool to identify people at high risk of developing mesothelioma. It may lead to early detection of the cancer and benefit people who have an occupational hazard of exposure to asbestos in the workplace. When individuals with the BAP1 mutation are exposed to asbestos, mesothelioma may cause the death of 50 percent of the family members—a far greater incidence than in the population at large, the researchers found.
Gene Testing May Eventually Transform Treatment for Mesothelioma Patients
In the future, patients with mesothelioma and other forms of cancer may receive medical treatment tailored to the genetics of their tumor. After all, cancer and other diseases stem from the complex interaction of multiple genetic and environmental factors.
Mesothelioma, a cancer of the lining of the lung, is closely associated with inhaling airborne asbestos fibers. Asbestos fibers lodge deep in the lungs causing inflammation that may cause genetic damage over time.
Mesothelioma produces an aggressive type of tumor. The median survival from diagnosis is just 12 months, creating a need for new treatment options to extend mesothelioma patients’ lives. Approximately, 3,000 people a year are diagnosed with mesothelioma. Many are retired workers and veterans who were exposed to asbestos in the workplace.
Cancer centers at large university-affiliated hospitals are starting to adopt genetic testing of tumors to understand tumors at a molecular level. Gene testing seeks to identify specific genes that may mutate and promote growth of cancer cells. When a gene contains a mutation, then the protein that the gene encodes is abnormal.
If doctors can identify a specific broken or mutant gene to target in a cancer patient, doctors then may be able to silence or “knock out” the troublemaker. Some cancer-causing genetic mutations switch the proteins that signals a cell to grow and divide —proteins called tyrosine kinases—to the permanent “on” position. Blocking tyrosine kinases has proven effective for treating certain human cancers including breast cancer, gastrointestinal tumors, leukemia and non-small cell lung cancer.
In a January 2011 article in the journal Neoplasia, researchers at Harvard Medical School reported on their research focused on trying to block certain proteins in 10 lines of mesothelioma cells. The researchers reported that the greatest reduction in the viability of the mesothelioma cells occurred when they blocked multiple types of receptor Tyrosine Kinases proteins rather than singling out individual proteins.
Genetic testing is changing doctors perception of cancer. Identifying the right gene to target may mean malignant tumors are treated more like an infectious disease after doctors understand the virus or bacteria that causes the disease.
Cases of Mesothelioma Disease on the Rise, World Health Organization Warns
A recent bulletin published by the World Health Organization estimates that 92,252 people around the world died of mesothelioma in the 15-year period from 1994 through 2008. Two-thirds of those deaths have occurred since the year 2000 and the incidence of mesothelioma is on the rise, the report said. Mesothelioma is an aggressive and largely preventable form of cancer associated with breathing asbestos fibers.
A preponderance of the mesothelioma deaths analyzed by the WHO involved pleural mesothelioma, a malignant cancer of the lining of the lung and chest cavity. Pleural mesothelioma is seen far more often than peritoneal mesothelioma, a cancer of the lining of the abdomen caused by ingesting asbestos dust. Pericardial mesothelioma, a cancer of the lining of the heart, is rarer still.
Mesothelioma is slow growing and symptoms typically appear 30 years or longer after initial exposure to asbestos. Many mesothelioma sufferers are retired workers or veterans. The median survival after diagnosis is typically 9 to 12 months and the median age at death 70.
Of the 92,252 recorded mesothelioma deaths, the vast majority occurred in high income industrialized countries including the United States, the United Kingdom and countries in Western Europe, the report said. The countries with the highest cumulative mesothelioma deaths tended to be the countries that were the largest users of asbestos. They also are more diligent in recording mesothelioma deaths.
Underreporting is a common problem with rare diseases such as mesothelioma that are difficult to diagnose. The actual number of mesothelioma deaths is likely much higher, the researchers acknowledged. Some countries such as China, India, Thailand and the Russian Federation that are large users of asbestos did not provide mesothelioma death data to the World Health Organization.
The use of asbestos has been strictly limited in the United States since the late 1970s and it has been banned in many European nations. Still, many workers such as construction workers, electricians, plumbers and demolition workers face an occupational hazard of asbestos exposure in the workplace. The WHO said the burden of mesothelioma may be gradually shifting to developing countries that used asbestos more recently and those countries should prepare for an increase in the number of mesothelioma deaths in coming decades.
Breakthrough in Using Immune System to Fight Cancer Through Gene Therapy
Researchers have long hoped to use the human immune system to kill malignant cancer cells. A new study in The New England Journal of Medicine suggests scientists at the University of Pennsylvania may have made significant strides in that approach using experimental gene therapy.
William Ludwig, a retired corrections officer from Bridgeton, N.J., volunteered for the experimental cancer treatment, because his chemotherapy had stopped working and he had few options, according to an article in The New York Times. Today, a year after the novel treatment, Ludwig’s chronic leukemia is in complete remission and he is playing golf and working in the yard. The same approach may work with other cancers besides leukemia, doctors say.
As part of the experimental treatment, the doctors removed a billion of Ludwig’s T-cells, white blood cells that fight viruses and malignant cells, and re-engineered them. They exposed the T-cells to a disabled form of the HIV-1 virus, which genetically altered the T-cells. They reprogrammed the T-cells to hone in on Ludwig’s leukemia and to reproduce in large numbers when activated by chemicals produced by malignant cells. They then reintroduced the T-cells into Ludwig’s blood.
Initially, Ludwig suffered flu-like symptoms such as a temperature and chills as the T-cells reproduced. The T-cells multiplied to 1,000 to 10,000 times the number infused, wiped out the cancer, then gradually diminished, leaving a rear guard of T-cells that can proliferate again if they sense more malignant cells. After a few weeks, Ludwig’s flu symptoms disappeared and there was no trace of the leukemia.
The doctors caution that the treatment is still experimental and are not yet claiming that Ludwig is cured. But a similar approach may work for treating other forms of cancer, the doctors say. Dr. Carl June, head of the research team at the University of Pennsylvania, plans to try the treatment approach on solid tumors produced by cancers such as ovarian cancer, pancreatic cancer and mesothelioma. Mesothelioma is an aggressive cancer of the lining of the lungs and abdomen closely associated with exposure to asbestos.
Approximately 2,500 to 3,000 people are diagnosed with mesothelioma each year in the United States. Many sufferers are retired workers and veterans who were exposed to asbestos decades ago, even if they didn’t realize it. Symptoms of mesothelioma typically appear 20 to 50 years after exposure, making the diagnosis more difficult.
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