Asbestos & Mesothelioma Studies
Polaris Group recently announced an application for a rolling submission of a new mesothelioma treatment. The Biologic License Application is the first step in becoming approved by the Food and Drug Administration. The treatment, known as ADI-PEG 20, is for the use on non-epithelioid mesothelioma patients alongside pemetrexed and platinum chemotherapy. The non-epithelioid subtypes of…
Pleural mesothelioma, a cancer mainly caused by asbestos, is a hard cancer to treat. Diagnosis usually occurs when it is in a late stage, leading to limited treatment options. New clinical trials are always being performed to try to find a new treatment approach that could possibly extend the lives of patients or even cure…
A group of Australian patients receiving Checkmate743 therapy saw higher levels of toxicity compared to CheckMate743 clinical trial patients. Checkmate743 consists of a dual treatment of ipilimumab and nivolumab and is the standard of care for patients with unresectable pleural mesothelioma. Unresectable means patients are not able to receive surgery to remove their cancer. Patients…
A new biomarker has been found for the diagnosis of mesothelioma by scientists in Japan. Information from this research could revolutionize how mesothelioma is diagnosed and treated in the future. Mesothelioma is a hard cancer to diagnose because it shares symptoms with other cancers. Cancers it can look like include squamous cell lung carcinoma and…
Researchers are trying to determine if a breath test can detect malignant pleural mesothelioma in patients exposed to asbestos. Early results are promising, but more research is needed to see what can be done for patients. The study, which is known as MESOBREATH 5, uses a test to detect volatile organic compounds in exhaled breath.…
Extended pleurectomy decortication surgery combined with chemotherapy is associated with worse outcomes compared to just chemotherapy alone. Researchers looked at extended pleurectomy and decortication surgery alongside chemotherapy and found that there are worse survival outcomes, a higher chance of serious adverse events, and a diminished quality of life compared to just giving patients platinum and…
A new study is showing that running genetic tests on mesothelioma patients could be useful. The study was conducted at the University of Chicago and University of Wisconsin. While the main cause of mesothelioma is asbestos, genetic mutations can also influence people getting mesothelioma. Doctors do not usually test mesothelioma patients’ genes, but researchers believe…
Researchers from Türkiye believe that biomarkers in the blood can help determine if patients are responding well to their treatment. Biomarkers are molecules that can let doctors know what is happening in the body. Even a small number of biomarkers could potentially help point doctors to progress being made in a patient. The researchers were…
There is a new treatment involving PARP inhibitors that could potentially benefit mesothelioma patients. PARP stands for Poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase. PARP is typically involved in repairing damaged DNA in cells. It can be useful against side effects from chemotherapy by repairing damaged tumor cells, which helps tumors to continue growing. The goal would be to…
There may be a new way to detoxify asbestos. Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania’s Department of Earth and Environmental Science are using bacteria from extreme marine environments. They are using a technique called bioremediation, which is a form of biotechnology that uses living organisms to remove toxins or contaminants from the environment. This technique…
