World’s First Mesothelioma Blood Test Created
November 15, 2005
Japanese company Fujirebio Diagnostics, Inc., was recently given a Pioneer Award at the Second International Symposium on malignant mesothelioma. The award, given by the Mesothelioma Applied Research Foundation (MARF), was in honor of the company’s substantial contributions to mesothelioma research and for developing the MESOMARKT test, the world’s first blood test for detecting mesothelioma.
Monte Wiltse, VP of sales and marketing for FDI said that the company’s long-term goals are committed to a more effective management of mesothelioma, the aggressive and rare cancer caused by asbestos exposure. The company thanked the organization for the award and restated its own commitment to stemming mesothelioma.
Mesothelioma is a very rare form of cancer that is usually related to asbestos exposure in some form. Cancerous cells develop in the mesothelium, a lining that protects many of the body’s organs. The most common site of development is in the pleura (the lining of the lungs) but mesothelioma has also been seen to develop in other body areas as well.
People who develop mesothelioma were long-thought to have been exposed to asbestos through their jobs, but recent studies suggest that exposure to asbestos may also take place from a distance and still result in mesothelioma development. Many people who worked in factories, home developments, or shipyards were usually exposed to asbestos for long periods of time.
symptoms of mesothelioma are very difficult to spot and may take some 30 to 50 years before the cancer develops. Some symptoms include a shortness of breath and chest pain. With new tests and developments in mesothelioma cases, however, the cancer appears to be becoming somewhat managed. Mesothelioma research is still far from other cancer related research, however.
The Pioneer Award contains a reproduction of a painting by a mesothelioma patient of a compass and a chart, symbolizing the patient’s journey through the uninhabited world of mesothelioma, since it is such a currently misunderstood cancer and disease.
The award ceremony and the companies involved come at a time when most funding for cancer research is going elsewhere, to more high-profile cancers. Mesothelioma cases are on the rise, however, stemming from their length of development and the medical misunderstanding of it. More research and more funding are expected because of the current developments in mesothelioma science, however, and many are optimistic about the future.
The new MESOMARKT blood test is a manually operated enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) that operates by identifying biomarkers called soluble mesothelin-related peptides (SMRP). These proteins are most often released into the blood by malignant mesothelioma cells.
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