Clapper, Patti, Schweizer and Mason

Tumors caused by malignant pleural mesothelioma are aggressive, hard to treat, and usually quite advanced by the time the disease is diagnosed.  Mesothelioma is a type of cancer caused by exposure to asbestos which most commonly occurs in the lining of the lungs, but can also affect the lining of the abdomen or heart.

 

Platinum based agents are common in first line chemotherapy treatments with mesothelioma, as well as with many other types of cancers. Clinical studies are underway to discover if tumor inhibitors used in combination with standard therapies might be more effective in treating mesothelioma.

 

One such study investigated whether an inhibitor, sirolimus, combined with a common chemotherapy drug used to treat mesothelioma, cisplatin, might accelerate cell death.  Sirolimus is an immunosuppressant drug once called rapamycin and now also known as Rapamune®. It is a drug that blocks a certain protein involved in cell division and death and is also a type of serine/threonine kinase inhibitor. 

 

Basically, this means that Sirolimus combined with Cisplatin has been shown to decrease the proliferation and increase death to cells that cause the aggressive advancement of mesothelioma. This is potentially good news to those suffering from mesothelioma, especially advanced stage mesothelioma, as many standard treatments have not been very effective.

 

If you have a known history of exposure to asbestos and have been diagnosed with mesothelioma or any other asbestos related disease and would be interested in participating in a clinical study involving the administration of Sirolimus or other exploratory methods of treatment, contact or visit the National Cancer Institute for complete details and eligibility requirements.