Clapper, Patti, Schweizer and Mason

Early detection of mesothelioma cancer continues to be a near-impossible task.  The disease has a latency period of up to fifty years after initial asbestos exposure, meaning it could be decades before those with the deadly cancer even notice anything is wrong.  Scientists are working on ways to detect the disease sooner in hopes that earlier detection could lead to better treatment options and better outcomes for patients suffering from the invariably deadly disease. 

Several promising avenues of research have led scientists to investigate the composition of cells to see whether or not significant changes occur that could pinpoint mesothelioma before it turns malignant.  In fact, a 2011 experiment whose results were published in Mutation Research/Genetic Toxicology and Environmental Mutagenesis may have identified protein markers that play at least some role in the developments of the asbestos disease. 

Researchers analyzed certain proteins and phosphoproteins (proteins chemically bonded to a substance containing phosphoric acid) in known benign mesothelial cells, malignant mesothelial cells, and mesothelial cells that had been exposed to crocidolite, a type of asbestos mined primarily in Australia. 

Various tests were done on these proteins to see if any significant changes were present and if those changes did indeed signify a positive mesothelioma diagnosis. 

The results of the study were quite eye-opening for many of the researchers on the project.  Those individual cells exposed to crocidolite expressed 16 altered proteins and phosphoproteins.  Keep in mind that these cells were not yet cancerous.  The presence of the altered proteins clearly indicates that there are definitive changes within the structure of individual cells when exposed to asbestos. 

Of these 16 augmented proteins the majority were proteins which dictate cell cycle regulation, cell growth, and DNA repair.  This is extremely significant because DNA which is damaged by exposure to asbestos can cause an otherwise healthy cell to exhibit unnatural growth patterns and can eventually lead to the cell becoming cancerous. 

Of the cells which had already been determined to be cancerous, the scientists found that 21 proteins and phosphoproteins were significantly altered when compared to those of a “normal” cell. 

Protein markers are regularly used to diagnose other diseases such as heart disease and other forms of cancer though up until this point there has been no definitive early diagnosis tool for mesothelioma.  The researchers engaged in this most recent experimentation came to the conclusion that “these altered proteins may be used in the future to identify those with a high risk for developing malignant mesothelioma and as targets for preventing this deadly malignancy.”

However, the research is still in its infancy.  More study is needed to verify that these altered proteins are a direct result of asbestos exposure and not some concurrent biological process and to rule out the possibility of false positives.