MesotheliomaWeb.Org is an all-important reference source on mesothelioma and other asbestos-related diseases. MesotheliomaWeb.Org furnishes authentic news and facts for patients and their families affected by these serious illnesses. Mesothelioma is a strain of malignant cancer that alters the cells in the pleural mesothelium, a ring of tissue circling the lungs. MesotheliomaWeb.Org gives readers up-to-date news reports on research projects, treatment techniques, and scientific discoveries on this form of lung disease.
The treatment alternatives for mesothelioma have been restricted in recent years. Mesothelioma is one form of cancer that has been extremely challenging to treat with any level of efficacy. Virtually of the existing choices do not entirely do away with the tumors. Despite those limits, doctors, oncologists and cancer researchers have reacted to increase the modest number of treatment choices available to mesothelioma patients.
A recent scientific report, funded by the National Cancer Institute and the Mesothelioma Applied Research Foundation, now offers a novel technique to add to the potential mesothelioma treatment selections. A team of scientific investigators has released an answer to an issue that has been troubling the cancer research community for more than a half-century. The report, published in the National Academy of Sciences journal, details the process of how exposure to asbestos leads to the growth of mesothelioma.
The team’s inquiry has led to a significant discovery, which may aid doctors in forestalling or decelerating the growth of mesothelioma tumors in their patients. Dr. Haining Yang and Dr. Michele Carbone of the University of Hawaii Cancer Research Center led the research team. In their report, they showed that the build-up of asbestos particles in the mesothelial tissue often induces inflammation in the cells. The inflammation irritates the cells and causes their genetic structure to change. The changes often result in the cells becoming malignant tumors, thus leading to mesothelioma.
As the cells become inflamed, they also release a special protein, called HMGB1. When asbestos particles interact with the healthy cells, the cells release HMGB1. The protein is also part of the process that causes the healthy cells to turn into cancer cells. Drs. Yang and Carbone stated in their report that HMGB1 can be used as an early diagnostic marker for the presence of mesothelioma.
Before this discovery, patients would often not receive a mesothelioma diagnosis until the cancer was well-established and the patient displayed much more obvious symptoms. Most patients would not display any symptoms until years, or even decades, after the time they were exposed to asbestos. Also, symptoms of the disease often resembled those of other respiratory ailments, such as pneumonia or lung cancer.
Seer Press reports, Dr. Carbone said that she was “very hopeful about the discovery.” She also said that the breakthrough could lead to doctors treating the inflamed tissue, a much easier process than the surgery, radiation and chemotherapy typically required for early-stage cancer patients. She said that her team would be conducting large-scale tests in Turkey and, if the results met with expectations, they would carry out tests in the US.
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