Interesting study out of Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. Positron Emission Tomography is a great tool for looking inside the body and hence has been valuable in diagnosis. Here the doctors are using what they learn to evaluate the prognosis of the patient and to determine the best course for continued treatment, including who is a candidate for clinical trials. More on PET for mesothelioma.
New study out of Japan. Patients were given Alimta supplemented with folate and vitamin B12. It was a small number of patients, but the results were good. “Tolerable” toxicity and the Alimta seemed to have an effect on the tumors.
News out of Britain today. The Treasury plans to introduce legislation to create a central fund for mesothelioma victims. Moneys would come from responsible corporations. Earlier this year, the Parliament passed the Compensation Act which permits mesothelioma victims to recover compensation. But under the current system victims have had to endure sometimes protracted negotiations while former employers wrangled over the responsibility for paying compensation. This new plan could help a lot of families.
Princeton is building a new building for their chemistry department. The money for the construction is coming largely from Alimta, the cancer drug. Princeton holds the patent on pemetrexed, which was developed there by Edward Taylor.
The Food and Drug Administration just approved zolinza for treatment of a rare form of skin cancer called cutaneous T-cell lymphoma (CTCL). In addition to CTCL, Zolinza is being investigated in other indications including myeloma, mesothelioma and a variety of other cancers that have entered phase I and II clinical trials since June 2005. It’s always good to hear about new cancer medications that scientists are working on.
In Scotland “victims of mesothelioma currently have to choose between claiming for damages or allowing their relatives to lodge a bigger claim after their death,” according to the BBC. New legislation could make things easier. It’s interesting: in the United States awards are typically bigger if the patient is still alive. More on mesothelioma compensation.
Kenneth Probets was a coach fitter, a railway job involving maintenance and inspection and getting the cars running after a stoppage. “Coach fitters would mix sacks of asbestos and apply it in the coaches.” He developed peritoneal mesothelioma and died a few months ago, another asbestos victim.
Article about Solbec Pharmaceuticals and their on-going work with coramsine, a substance derived from the plant Devil’s apple. Tests in mice are promising.
Over at the blog Respectful Insolance, the author Orac gives a primer on angiogensis
Tumors induce angiogenesis by a variety of strategies, but most
commonly they secrete large amounts of factors, usually small proteins,
that stimulate the endothelial cells (cells that line blood vessels) to
invade the basement membrane upon which they sit, migrate towards the
stimulus, form tubes, and finally form functional blood vessels. The
most common and studied of these factors belong to the vascular
endothelial growth factor (VEGF) family. Usually, tumor vessels tend to
be tortuous and “leaky,” and indeed the original name for VEGF was
vascular permeability factor, because of its ability to increase the
leakiness of blood vessels.
A good succinct explanation. He says he got interested in the field in the late 1990s when there was a lot of stuff in the popular press about inhibiting angiogensis as a means of controlling cancer. That hype faded when miracles did not transpire, but the basic idea is still intriguing, and cancer research continues.
