At any given time there are several clinical trials underway for chemotherapy treatment of mesothelioma patients. The two drugs that have proven to be effective with some types of mesothelioma cells are pemetrexed and cisplatin. Researchers are now experimenting with the use of these drugs in combination with other chemotherapy drugs to see if additional positive results can be obtained.
All cancers are complicated diseases and malignant mesothelioma is no exception. There are several types of cells associated with the disease; some can be reduced by one type of chemo drug while others are unaffected by it. One of the unfortunate facts about this affliction is that it is often not diagnosed until the mesothelioma symptoms are evident, meaning that the malignancy is sufficiently advanced that there is relatively little chance of halting it, let alone curing it. For that reason, many of the clinical trials are for palliative treatments; the goal of these studies is to extend a patient’s post diagnosis survival time.
It’s encouraging to see research on early diagnosis. The history of this disease has been that physicians work through the diagnostic procedures for more common diseases with the same symptoms, resulting in a lengthy decision making process that allow this fast-moving malignancy to spread.
A Michigan based study is currently recruiting for a study that is attempting to identify “biomarkers,” or molecular evidence that mesothelioma cells give off in the early stages of the disease. The researchers are looking for the characteristics of protein cells, which will provide information on what sort of mesothelioma treatment can be utilized to slow its early development. These will be chemotherapy drugs that take a different approach to cell control than those used for late-stage malignancies.
Exposure to both vermiculite and asbestos are included in the participant profile, meaning that the base of potential mesothelioma victims is now recognized in the medical community as including those who were exposed to the vermiculite produced by the W.R. Grace mine in Libby Montana and the products manufactured from it.
Contact information on this study: ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT00897247
Locations:
Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute Recruiting Detroit, Michigan, 48201 Contact: Clinical Trials Office Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute 313-576-9363
Sinai-Grace Hospital Recruiting Detroit, Michigan, United States, 48235 Contact: Naimei Tang 313-966-3300
