mesothelioma blog

The approximate etymology for mesothelioma is:

Meso – middle

Theli (thele) – chest

Oma – “to take root” but is now used to describe tumors

Kinase inhibitors attack tumor growth by shutting down the enzymes that phospylate proteins. This disrupts the signal transduction between cancer cells and don’t allow tumors to take hold. At least, that’s the idea.

Scientists have been interested in kinase inhibitors for over a decade now and several are in on the market or close to it (in clinical trials.) These include dasatinib, bosutinib, nilotinib, and vandetanib. So far, these are not miracle drugs by any means, but they are finding use among oncologists.

The New York Times health blog reprinted Hamilton Jordan’s advice from his 2001 memoir:

No. 1: Be an active partner in the medical decisions that are made about your life.
No. 2: Seek and know the truth about your illness, and prognosis.
No. 3: Get a second opinion.
No. 4: Determine upfront how broad or narrow your physicians’ experience is.
No. 5: If you have a poor prognosis, or a rare form of cancer, try to get to a center of excellence.
No. 6: Do not allow your caregivers to project their values, goals and expectations onto you.
No. 7: Understand the economics of cancer care.
No. 8: Ultimately, find a doctor that you trust and believe in.
No. 9: Treat your mind as well as your body.
No. 10: Your attitude and beliefs are your most powerful weapon against cancer.

Nature published an article last month on the idea of personalizing medicine based on analysis of the patient’s genes. Current treatment methods decide on the treatment approached based on the organ the cancer develops in. This method evolved over the decades because it provided the highest probability of success for any given patient, given that no details were known about how different patients would respond to different treatments.

Now that we understand more about the genetic origins of cancer and how genes affect the growth and development of tumors, scientists look forward to a knowledge-based approach and a data-driven approach to addressing cancer in the future.

Hamilton Jordan - Jimmy Carter’s campaign genius in 1976 and later his White House Chief of Staff. He had four different types of cancer during his life. He eventually died from mesothelioma last week after a long battle with the illness. Big tribute in Atlanta last week.

We’ve mentioned “chemobrain” on this blog before. That was on the occasion of a study seeming to confirm the existence of the loss of cognitive function that many chemotherapy patients report. Now two studies presented at the American Academy of Neurology annual meeting case doubt. An Australian researcher found that “chemotherapy-related cognitive impairment was infrequent” in his work with breast cancer patients on chemotherapy. A Michigan State study found chemo patients performed only marginally worse on memory tests than similar people without cancer.

Paul Ehrlich won the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1908. He was a very influential and visionary scientist, who coined the word chemotherapy. He also came up with the idea of a “magic bullet” - a chemical or physical substance introduced to the body that would attack the disease and only the disease, leaving the healthy tissue alone. Chemotherapy has been unfortunately not specific over the past decades. The new research into “targeted therapy” may get us closer to Ehrlich’s dream.

I just learned there was a move about Ehrlich made in 1940, starring Edward G. Robinson. Dr. Ehrlich’s Magic Bullet.

The New York Times looks at the types of cancer and how much the National Cancer Institute spends on each. Of course, much NCI funding is for general cancer research or non-specific research, but if you look at the dollars per case, there is a good deal of variance. The Times found the NCI spent $2,596 per breast cancer case and only $1,318 per prostate cancer case. Both of these types have high survival rates, and the funding per death was over $10K for each, while the funding for lung cancer (which kills more people than any other type of cancer) was only $1,630/death. It’s well known that breast cancer raises more money in private charity fund-raising in proportion to its incidence compared to other types of cancer.

The Miniing Safety and Health Administration finally lowered the limit for exposure to 0.1 fibers per cubic centimeter. That’s a 95% reduction from the previous 2 fibers per cc limit. The new regulation goes into effect in late April.

Here is the “final rule” as published by the MSHA (22 pages, PDF). MSHA’s sister Labor Department agency, OSHA, has had a 0.1 fibers/cc limit for over a decade. This is the limit for most workers for a long time, but miners were for some reason stuck with more explicitly dirty air. This is an example of government failure - where the science, and even most of the work world, are ahead of the mining industry.

Hmmm, this is disappointing. After two years of decline, the number of people who died from cancer rose in 2005, per an account by the American Cancer Society. Associated Press story here. Over half a million Americans a year die from cancer.