mesothelioma blog

There is a report out of Australia today about new findings in control of tumors. Researchers showed a mouse immune system could contain a cancerous growth and prevent the cancer from spreading. The article hails this breakthrough as having the potential to lead to new therapies in the future. No details in the mainstream press article. Will look for the abstract for further details.

Let’s hope this contributes to advances in immunotherapy for mesothelioma.

The Sydney Morning Herald reports that Australia’s Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme might add Alimta to the list of drugs eligible for coverage. Only half of Australians with mesothelioma have been able to get access because of state government subsidy schemes and coverage of the workplace compensation. There has been some controversy because Alimta was more readily available for lung cancer patients than for mesothelioma patients.

ChemRisk has put out a fascinating paper in which the authors attempt to quantify historical exposure levels of asbestos in the workplace. They estimated asbestos concentrations at distance from factories.

People living at asbestos cement factories had a relative risk of 10.5 and even at a distance of 10 km, the risk was 60% as high as it was at the source. The authors conclude that the asbestos pollution from industry significantly increases mesothelioma risk.

Interesting research into the basic of cancer. Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death, killing more than 50 times as many people as mesothelioma does. Scientists have recently uncovered abnormalities in the genome related to lung cancer, including more than 50 regions that are gained or lost in lung tumors. They found a gene alteration in some lung cancers, and knowing about this alteration could lead to a new target for therapy.

This article from the MIT news office explains more.