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Journal Articles on Mesothelioma: Cancer Information for Patients and Families

Archive for the 'Determining Efficacy' Category

Studies which measure or otherwise analyze the effectiveness of various treatments and the methods used to generate the information from which efficacy is determined (for instance, is MRI an effective method to measure chemotherapy results).

Determining Efficacy news feed.

April 25th, 2008. Efficacy and Safety of Pemetrexed in Combination with Cisplatin for Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma: A Phase I/II Study in Japanese Patients

Conclusion: The Pem/Cis combination provides promising activity and an acceptable safety profile for chemonaive Japanese MPM patients with the same recommend dosage and schedule used in rest of the world.

April 15th, 2008. Outcome after extrapleural pneumonectomy for malignant pleural mesothelioma

Conclusion: Extrapleural pneumonectomy as part of a multi-modality treatment regimen is a good treatment option for selected patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma. The long-term results of this limited series compare favourably to non-surgical treatment regimens. Larger randomised prospective multi-centre trials are warranted to establish clear guidelines.

April 10th, 2008. Multicystic peritoneal mesothelioma treated by surgical cytoreduction and hyperthermic intra-peritoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC)

Conclusion: Definitive eradication by means of cytoreduction and HIPEC seems a safe and effective therapeutic option for MPM.

April 10th, 2008. Surgical Treatment in the Management of Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma: A Single Institution’s Experience

Conclusions: In highly selected patients local control can be achieved with combination therapy but is accompanied by a high rate of (surgical) complications. Distant failure rates warrant further studies exploring the role of systemic chemotherapy while the use of cytoreductive surgery with intraoperative chemoperfusion for MPM is not supported.

April 4th, 2008. Asbestos induces doxorubicin resistance in MM98 mesothelioma cells via HIF-1{alpha}

These effects were prevented by the coincubation with the cell-permeating iron salt ferric nitrilotriacetate (FeNTA), which caused an increase of intracellular iron bioavailability, checked as increased activity of the iron regulatory protein-1 (IRP-1). Crocidolite, dexrazoxane and hypoxia induce doxorubicin resistance in HMM cells by increasing HIF-1{alpha} activity, through an iron-sensitive mechanism.

April 2nd, 2008. Response to the methylation inhibitor dihydro-5-azacytidine in mesothelioma is not associated with methylation of p16INK4a: results of cancer and leukemia group B 159904

Conclusions: There was no significant correlation between the presence of p16INK4a methylation and response to DHAC therapy or overall survival.

April 1st, 2008. Targeting tumor-associated macrophages in an orthotopic murine model of diffuse malignant mesothelioma

injection. These reductions in tumor burden are statistically significant and identify TAMs as an important host-derived cell that contributes to growth, invasion, and metastasis in diffuse malignant peritoneal mesothelioma.

April 1st, 2008. Phase III trial of pemetrexed plus best supportive care compared with best supportive care in previously treated patients with advanced malignant pleural mesothelioma

Conclusion: Second-line pemetrexed elicited significant tumor response and delayed disease progression compared with BSC alone in patients with advanced MPM. Improvement in OS was not seen in this study, possibly because of the significant imbalance in postdiscontinuation chemotherapy between the arms.

April 1st, 2008. Combined resection, intraperitoneal chemotherapy, and whole abdominal radiation for the treatment of malignant peritoneal mesothelioma

Conclusion: Based on the results of this study, intensive multimodality therapy appears feasible and effective in this group of patients.

March 29th, 2008. Cytotoxic activities of nucleoside and nucleobase analog drugs in malignant mesothelioma: Characterization of a novel nucleobase transport activity

A novel combination of gemcitabine and fludarabine or cladribine had synergistic cytotoxic activity against the least sensitive mesothelioma cell line. These drug combinations merit further evaluation as effective therapeutic regimens in patients with aggressive mesothelioma.

March 26th, 2008. Toxin of Staphylococcus aureus overcomes acquired cisplatin-resistance in malignant mesothelioma cells

A low-toxic concentration of alpha-toxin re-sensitized cisplatin P31res cytotoxicity by apoptosis-induced through the mitochondrial pathway without detectable activation of common up-stream apoptosis signaling proteins. The toxin/drug combination should be tested for cisplatin-resistant mesothelioma treatment.

March 25th, 2008. Efficacy and safety of pemetrexed in elderly cancer patients: Results of an integrated analysis

Conclusions: Pemetrexed produced similar treatment effects in older and younger patients, and appeared to be well tolerated in the elderly population. This analysis was limited by the pooling of different disease types and the lack of uniform treatment regimens.

March 25th, 2008. Bcl-xL antisense oligonucleotide and cisplatin combination therapy extends survival in SCID mice with established mesothelioma xenografts

ASO 15999 induced reduction of Bcl-xL is effective in slowing the progression of human mesothelioma cell lines both in vitro and in vivo. More notably, the combination of Bcl-xL ASO and cisplatin extends survival in an orthotopic tumor xenograft model.

March 22nd, 2008. Risk Factors for Major Complications After Extrapleural Pneumonectomy for Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma

Conclusions: Right EPP and more than 4 units of RBC transfusion are associated with increased risk of major complications. Although patients undergoing induction chemotherapy received more RBC transfusions, induction chemotherapy did not directly impact the risk of major complications.

March 20th, 2008. Phase II Trial of Pemetrexed and Gemcitabine in Chemotherapy-Naïve Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma

Conclusion: The combination of pemetrexed and gemcitabine resulted in moderate clinical activity in MPM. However, the median survival times are similar to those with single-agent pemetrexed and inferior to outcomes observed with cisplatin in combination with an antifolate.

March 15th, 2008. Evaluation of the rehabilitation program in a patient submitted to pleuropneumonectomy for malignant pleural mesothelioma

Conclusions: Future studies will define the role of the rehabilitation for MPM patients and will optimize the protocol.

March 15th, 2008. mTOR contributes to the acquired apoptotic resistance of human mesothelioma multicellular spheroids

In sum, mTOR and S6K contribute to the apoptotic resistance of mesothelioma cells in 3D, not in 2D, cultures. The 3D model may reflect a more clinically relevant in vitro setting in which mTOR exhibits anti-apoptotic properties.

March 11th, 2008. A Conditional Mouse Model for Malignant Mesothelioma

Conditional Nf2;Ink4a/Arf mice showed increased pleural invasion compared to conditional Nf2;p53 mice. Interestingly, upon Ink4a loss in the latter mice median survival was significantly reduced and all tumors were highly invasive, suggesting that Ink4a loss substantially contributes to the poor clinical outcome of malignant mesothelioma.

March 11th, 2008. Extrapleural pneumonectomy versus pleurectomy/decortication in the surgical management of malignant pleural mesothelioma: Results in 663 patients

Conclusion: Patients who underwent pleurectomy/decortication had a better survival than those who underwent extrapleural pneumonectomy; however, the reasons are multifactorial and subject to selection bias. At present, the choice of resection should be tailored to the extent of disease, patient comorbidities, and type of multimodality therapy planned.

February 29th, 2008. Local recurrence of tumor at sites of intervention in malignant pleural mesothelioma

LD was not associated with the stage of the disease. The most suitable candidate groups for PR are patients receiving supportive therapy, thoracotomy without multi-modal therapy or patients with sarcomatous and mixed cell type tumors.