Clapper, Patti, Schweizer and Mason

Like in the United States, the United Kingdom has suffered tremendously from the widespread production and use of asbestos products.  The number of newly diagnosed mesothelioma patients in the UK has risen to roughly 2,300 per year, just below the rate in the U.S. of approximately 3,000 per year.  That rate is four times higher than just 30 years ago with no relief in sight.  However, now doctors, researchers, and scientists in the U.K. have a new weapon in their arsenal in the fight against mesothelioma.  Papworth Hospital in Cambridgeshire recently opened a dedicated mesothelioma research center to help scientists understand this deadly asbestos disease and how better to combat it.

One of the key features of the new research center is what its directors are calling a “Mesobank.”  This Mesobank will be able to store live mesothelioma tissue samples from various sources around the U.K. and correlate them with associated medical data and clinical details.  This will help researchers tremendously.  They will be able to both sift and sort the medical data and use these tissue samples in clinical trials experimenting with new treatment methods, new diagnostic tools, and even prognostic indicators.

It is the goal of the research center, as Dr. Robert Rintoul put it, to make “…it quicker, easier and cheaper for researchers to undertake the kind of research that could deliver real advances in our understanding and treatment of this devastating disease.”

Meanwhile, the U.K. will likely see the rate of new mesothelioma diagnosis to continue to rise into the foreseeable future.  Like the U.S., the U.K. relied heavily on asbestos in industrial and commercial settings until just recently.  Because mesothelioma has such a long latency period (up to 50 years,) thousands upon thousands of citizens could be living with undiagnosed mesothelioma right now. 

The British Lung Foundation and Mick Knighton Mesothelioma Research Fund footed the bill for this new research center and are expecting great things.  Mesothelioma research is entering exciting and new phases right now with the introductions of genetically engineered viruses, radical new diagnostic tests, and even the refinement of traditionally gruesome surgical procedures. 

Dame Helena Shovelton, Chief Executive of the British Lung Foundation, said in a statement that it was her sincere hope that this new Mesobank would “… help the UK become a world leader in mesothelioma research and, more importantly, help improve both the length and quality of life for people affected by it.”