Clapper, Patti, Schweizer and Mason

In an article written by Yuman Fong (from the Department of Surgery at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center) and accepted for publication in the Journal of the American Association for Cancer Research, researchers relate positive findings in the fight against mesothelioma.  Using genetically engineered, custom tailored common diseases may be the wave of the future in combating the deadly cancer caused by asbestos. 

For years the only available treatment options for patients with the aggressive cancer were chemotherapy, radiation and surgery.  However, even these treatments cannot stop the disease.  Mesothelioma is invariably fatal—there is no cure. 

However, many researchers around the world have begun to investigate novel ideas for treatment of the disease with hopes of finding something that will, at worst, stop the disease from progressing, or, at best, cure it altogether.  One new line of treatment being researched in clinical trials is called oncolytic viral therapy.

The study authored by Yuman Fong looks at the effectiveness of a genetically modified version of Newcastle disease virus (NDV) when reprogrammed to attack mesothelioma cells.  Newcastle disease is a contagious bird disease first discovered in England.  In its natural, non-modified state it causes mild conjunctivitis (Pink Eye) and flu-like symptoms in humans exposed to the virus.    

In experiments, the genetically altered virus was injected into test animals that had been implanted with malignant pleural mesothelioma tumors.  In 65% of the test subjects, researchers observed cellular lysis (cell death) in the tumor cells.  The animals within that percentile survived 26 days longer than animals implanted with tumors but not given the treatment (averaging 50 days as opposed to 24). 

The modified virus was “targeted” or designed to specifically attack mesothelioma cells and not the healthy tissue surrounding the tumors. 

The initial research, conducted at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, and the Medical University Vienna spawned much excitement as results showed success in using NDV as a viral oncolytic agent.  Similar in-vitro studies have been launched in both the U.S. and Austria.  If all continues to show success, the study could be advanced into a trial involving patients diagnosed with mesothelioma.

This line of attack against mesothelioma is similar to that being pursued by researchers in the Netherlands who are conducting clinical trials using the body’s own dendritic immune cells to mark or target mesothelioma cells so that the immune system will actively attack those cells and nothing else.

These types of treatments are light years ahead of those available now.  The main advantage is that they specifically attack the cancer and don’t function as a blanket “carpet bombing” of the body as does chemotherapy. 

While both treatments are in very early stages of experimentation and may take years to develop to the point where they are ready to be put to widespread use, researchers are optimistic—at least cautiously so.