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Journal Articles on Mesothelioma: Cancer Information for Patients and Families

Archive for the 'Treatment' Category

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December 23rd, 2008. Malignant mesothelioma

Compensation issues must also be considered. Life expectancy in malignant mesothelioma is poor, with a median survival of about one year following diagnosis.

December 20th, 2008. Vitamin D-mediated hypercalcemia and Cushing syndrome as manifestations of malignant pleural mesothelioma

Conclusion: These findings support the evidence for a paracrine role of vitamin D in the resistance of the human host to antigen.

December 20th, 2008. Phase II study of belinostat (PXD101), a histone deacetylase inhibitor, for second line therapy of advanced malignant pleural mesothelioma

Conclusions: Belinostat is not active as monotherapy against recurrent malignant pleural mesothelioma. Evaluation of combination strategies or alternate dosing schedules may be necessary for further development of this novel agent in mesothelioma.

December 19th, 2008. Gemcitabine combined with oxaliplatin in pretreated patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma: an observational study

Conclusion: Pemetrexed-pretreated patients with progressive MPM may benefit from a consecutive chemotherapy with oxaliplatin and gemcitabine without significant toxicity.

December 18th, 2008. Medical thoracoscopic talc pleurodesis for malignant pleural effusion: an analysis of 27 cases

Conclusion: Medical thoracoscopic talc poudrage pleurodesis is a safe and effective method for the treatment of malignant pleural effusion.

December 17th, 2008. Systemic blockade of transforming growth factor-beta signaling augments the efficacy of immunogene therapy

E7 vaccination therapy. The addition of TGF-beta blocking agents in clinical trials of immunotherapies may increase efficacy.

December 17th, 2008. A binding domain on mesothelin for CA125/MUC16

In addition, we have shown that a single chain monoclonal antibody (SS1) recognizes this CA125-binding domain and blocks the mesothelin-CA125 interaction on cancer cells. The identified CA125-binding domain significantly inhibits cancer cell adhesion and merits evaluation as a new therapeutic agent for preventing or treating peritoneal malignant tumors.

December 17th, 2008. Diffuse Malignant Peritoneal Mesothelioma: Failure Analysis Following Cytoreduction and Hyperthermic Intraperitoneal Chemotherapy (HIPEC)

We conclude that minimal residual disease, compared with macroscopically complete cytoreduction, correlated to failure in critical anatomical areas, suggesting the need for maximal cytoreductive surgical efforts. In selected patients, aggressive management of progressive disease seems worthwhile.

December 12th, 2008. Tumor eradication after cyclophosphamide depends on concurrent depletion of regulatory T cells: a role for cycling TNFR2-expressing effector-suppressor T cells in limiting effective chemotherapy

Indeed, we observed that the drug gemcitabine, which does not deplete cycling regulatory T cells, eradicates established tumors in mice only when CD25+ CD4+ T cells are concurrently depleted. Cyclophosphamide could be used to achieve regulatory T cell depletion in combination with chemotherapy.

December 4th, 2008. Cytoreductive surgery and continuous hyperthermic peritoneal perfusion in patients with mesothelioma and peritoneal carcinomatosis: hemodynamic, metabolic, and anesthetic considerations

0082) after completion of CHPP compared with patients with peritoneal carcinomatosis. We conclude that the transient hemodynamic and metabolic perturbations associated with cytoreductive surgery and CHPP with cisplatin can vary according to the primary diagnosis (mesothelioma versus peritoneal carcinomatosis) warranting this therapy.

December 3rd, 2008. Opposite effects of Notch-1 and Notch-2 on mesothelioma cell survival under hypoxia are exerted through the Akt pathway

The mechanism of Notch-2 toxicity to MM cells countered that of Notch-1, as it was the result of positive transcriptional regulation of PTEN and inhibition of the PI3K/Akt/mTOR signaling pathway. These results provide new insight into the role of Notch in MM and suggest that Notch pathway inhibitors may be useful in the treatment of this deadly disease.

December 2nd, 2008. Malignant peritoneal mesothelioma-Results from the International Expanded Access Program using pemetrexed alone or in combination with a platinum agent

Results: Response rates (95% CI) for PEM, PEM/CIS, and PEM/CARBO were 12.5% (3.5, 29.0), 20.0% (7.7, 38.6), and 24.1% (10.3, 43.5), respectively. Median survival for PEM was 10.3 months. One-year survival rates for PEM/CIS and PEM were 57.4% (95% CI: 10.3, 100) and 41.5% (95% CI: 4.6, 78.4), respectively, and were not available for PEM/CARBO. Anemia was the most common serious adverse event (6.4%). Neutropenia (34.6%) was the most frequent CTC grade 3 or 4 toxicity reported. Concluding statement: PEM with or without a platinum agent was both active and well tolerated in patients with peritoneal mesothelioma.

December 2nd, 2008. Monitoring of Chemotherapy Response in Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma Using Fluorodeoxyglucose Positron Emission Tomography

The tumor lesion exhibited shrinkage on CT and a decrease in the standardized uptake value (SUV) max after the first course of chemotherapy, but exhibited size enlargement and an increase in SUV max after the second course of chemotherapy. These findings suggest that results of quantification of metabolic response by FDG-PET are related to the objective response as determined by CT in patients with MPM.

November 28th, 2008. Biomarkers for malignant pleural mesothelioma: current status

Future research efforts should focus on biomarkers predictive of the efficacy and toxicity of standard chemotherapy. Translational research should be systematically incorporated into the design of clinical trials assessing new targeted agents in MPM.

November 26th, 2008. Mesothelioma: treatment

There are few active cytotoxic drugs in this disease. Currently, based on two randomised trials, the most efficacious chemotherapy regimen consists in a combination of cisplatin and an antifolate agent, pemetrexed or raltitrexed.

November 26th, 2008. Comparison of semiquantitative fluorescence imaging and PET tracer uptake in mesothelioma models as a monitoring system for growth and therapeutic effects

Conclusion: Fluorescence imaging could be used to semiquantitatively monitor tumor size, whereas PET could be used to monitor tumor response to therapeutic treatments, and especially, FLT might be a good marker of the response to anti-folate chemotherapeutics.

November 21st, 2008. Compensator-based intensity-modulated radiation therapy for malignant pleural mesothelioma post extrapleural pneumonectomy

Not all linear accelerators can deliver large-field MLC-based IMRT, but most can deliver a maximum conformal field of 40 x 40 cm. It is possible and reasonable to deliver IMRT with compensators for fields this size with most conventional linear accelerators.

November 21st, 2008. Secretion of N-ERC/mesothelin and expression of C-ERC/mesothelin in human pancreatic ductal carcinoma

Although C-ERC/mesothelin was frequently expressed in human pancreatic ductal carcinoma, serum N-ERC/mesothelin concentration of cancer patients was equivalent to healthy controls. N-ERC/mesothelin was not useful as a serum marker of pancreatic ductal carcinoma, but because of frequent expression, C-ERC/mesothelin might be useful as a target of molecular imaging and immunotherapy.

November 21st, 2008. Laboratory investigation of hypercoagulability in cancer patients using rotation thrombelastography

In conclusions, our data demonstrates thromboelastographic signs of hypercoagulability in patients with solid tumors. ROTEM® is able to identify the contribution of fibrinogen and platelets to clot strength in this patient population.

November 20th, 2008. Yang XJ, Li Y, al-shammaa Hassan AH, Yang GL, Liu SY, Lu YL, Zhang JW, Yonemura Y. Department of Oncology, Zhongnan Hospital, Cancer Center of Wuhan University, Hubei Cancer Clinical Study Center, Wuchang District, China.

Eleven patients died, three survived with tumor, and seven survived free of tumor. CRS + HIPEC was well tolerated in our selected patients with PC, some of whom had improved survival.