Mesothelioma Help Cancer News

International Conference Brings Great Minds In Fighting Mesothelioma

• Nancy Meredith
• For Your Family

The Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization (ADAO) announced the details for the 8th Annual International Asbestos Awareness Conference, Asbestos: An International Public Health Crisis, to be held March 30-April 1, at the Manhattan Beach Marriott in Manhattan Beach, California. Asbestos is a known carcinogen and is proven to cause mesothelioma, lung cancer and asbestosis.

The affects of asbestos are typically not evident for decades after exposure. Most cases of mesothelioma, for example, are diagnosed 30 years or more after inhaling the toxic fibers. Often called “asbestos cancer,” mesothelioma is highly aggressive and is resistant to many standard cancer treatments. Currently there is no known cure for mesothelioma, and the average survival time varies from 4 – 18 months after diagnosis.

This year’s conference, made possible with the partnership of the Environmental Information Association (EIA) and Independent Asbestos Training Providers (IATP), “brings together renowned experts and asbestos victims in a united forum to enhance asbestos awareness, education, treatment, and collaboration.”

Speakers at the conference include keynote speaker Matt Peacock, award-winning journalist with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, mesothelioma patients Debbie Brewer, Larry Davis and Paul Zygielbaum, ADAO staff, environmentalists, physicians and scientists.

Honorees this year include U.S. Representative Steve Cohen receiving the Tribute of Hope Award, Dr. Richard Lemen receiving the Dr. Irving Selikoff Lifetime Achievement Award, and Debbie Brewer will be recognized with The Alan Reinstein Award.

ADAO was founded by asbestos victims and their families in 2004. ADAO seeks to give asbestos victims and concerned citizens a united voice to raise public awareness about the dangers of asbestos exposure. ADAO is the largest independent organization dedicated to preventing asbestos-related diseases.

Mesothelioma Patient Celebrates Remission of Asbestos Cancer

• Nancy Meredith
• Cancer, Mesothelioma, Patients, Treatments

Sherrie Moore, a 55-year-old Missouri woman, hopes to live to see her grandchildren grow up. As 2012 begins, Moore is marking more than just the new year. She is celebrating the remission of her mesothelioma for more than a year.

Mesothelioma is an aggressive cancer of the lining of the lungs and abdomen caused by asbestos exposure. But it can be difficult to detect as Moore’s circuitous path to a diagnosis shows.

Four years ago, Moore, who lives in Carl Junction, Missouri, was experiencing fatigue, an elevated heart rate and eventually pain in her right side that extended into her back. She assumed it was caused by the stress and physical exertion of caring for her husband Ed who had prostrate cancer.

According to an article in Cancerwise published by the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Moore underwent a series of medical tests that revealed a low hemoglobin count. A colonoscopy showed normal results as did a CT scan of her liver and pancreas. The doctor who performed a CT scan thought something looked abnormal about her lungs and referred her to a pulmonologist.

A pulmonary specialist did an x-ray and discovered a small volume of fluid in Moore’s lung and put her on antibiotics. Fluid in the lungs, also called pleural effusions, is one of the common symptoms of mesothelioma reported by many patients. When Moore returned at the urging of the pulmonologist, she had another CT scan that revealed nearly two liters of fluid in her right lung. She underwent an outpatient procedure and biopsy that were inconclusive.

The cancer specialist to whom she was referred recommended an open lung biopsy. The surgeon who performed the procedure in November 2008 found 15 tumors in Moore’s right lung and diagnosed Moore with stage IV mesothelioma.

The doctor recommended that she seek treatment at M.D. Anderson Medical Center in Texas.

With patients with cancer limited to one lung, doctors may remove the cancerous lung and surrounding tissue and perform chemotherapy and radiation. But Moore had mesothelioma in both lungs so she had limited treatment options.

Moore underwent 28 chemotherapy treatments that lasted until December 2010. Before the treatments concluded, there was no active sign of mesothelioma. Moore’s physicican, Dr. Anne Tsao, director of the mesothelioma program at M.D. Anderson, informed Moore that she was the first of her patients to achieve full remission.

Approximately 3,000 people in the U.S. are diagnosed with mesothelioma each year. Many are older workers, veterans and retirees who were exposed to asbestos in the workplace decades ago. Typically, mesothelioma symptoms appear 30 years to 50 years after initial exposure to asbestos.

For more information about mesothelioma, click here.

Ten Facts About Asbestos Exposure, Asbestosis and Mesothelioma

• Nancy Meredith
• Asbestos Exposure

The end of the year and start of the new year are a time for list making. As we welcome 2012, here is a timeless list of important facts about asbestos and mesothelioma, a type of cancer caused by inhaling asbestos:

1. When a person inhales asbestos fibers, most of the fibers are expelled, but some can penetrate deep into the lung and remain lodged there for a lifetime. Asbestos fibers can cause inflammation and scarring, which can affect breathing and gradually lead to disease.
2. People are more likely to experience asbestos-related disorders when they are exposed to high concentrations of asbestos, are exposed for longer periods of time or are exposed more often.
3. There is no safe level of exposure to asbestos, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
4. Exposure to asbestos increases the risk of developing asbestosis, a scarring of the lungs due to retained asbestosis fibers, as well as malignant diseases such as lung cancer and mesothelioma.
5. The health effects of asbestos exposure may continue to progress even after a person is no longer exposed to asbestos.
6. Smoking together with exposure to asbestos greatly increases the likelihood of lung cancer.
7. Fluid around the lungs (known as pleural effusion) and changes in the lining of the lung such as thickening, plaques and calcification may be early indicators of past asbestos exposure. Pleural effusions may be an early symptoms of mesothelioma.
8. Most cases of asbestos are diagnosed 30 years or more after a worker was first exposed to asbestos. In some cases, asbestos disease appears after 40 or 50 years.
9. Asbestos-related disease has been diagnosed in asbestos workers, family members, veterans and in particular Navy veterans, people who lived near a factory that used asbestos-containing materials and many trades workers who were exposed to asbestos dust. Many older buildings in New York City contain asbestos building materials and the asbestos may be released into the air if the asbestos is disturbed.
10. Approximately 3,000 people are diagnosed with mesothelioma each year in the U.S. The number of people diagnosed with mesothelioma has been increasing in recent decades.

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No Safe Level of Exposure to Asbestos, EPA Inspector General Warns in Report

• Nancy Meredith
• Asbestos Exposure, Mesothelioma

The inspector general of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issued a stern warning report this month saying the government’s use of unapproved methods to demolish buildings containing asbestos may expose workers and the public to the cancer-causing material.

Asbestos is closely associated with serious respiratory diseases including asbestosis, lung cancer and mesothelioma, a cancer of the lining of the lung and abdomen. Demolition workers and construction workers are among the types of workers who are at higher risk of exposure to asbestos fibers today, if the material is not handled properly during removal.

“Asbestos is a human carcinogen with no safe level of exposure,” Inspector General Arthur A. Elkins Jr., said in the report.

In 1973, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issued standards to protect human health from exposure to asbestos during demolition of buildings and asbestos removal. The standards require that specially-trained technicians remove asbestos-containing material prior to demolition, unless the building is structurally unsafe to enter.

According to the inspector general’s report, EPA in 1999 starting exploring alternative methods for asbestos removal. The demolition methods are known by EPA as the Fort Worth Method and the Alternative Asbestos Control Method. The methods leave some or all of the asbestos-containing material in place during demolition. Demolition equipment applies mechanical forces that shred the asbestos-containing material, potentially releasing asbestos fibers into the air and endangering public health, according to the report.

The inspector general said its preliminary investigation indicates the unapproved methods of asbestos removal are currently being used or considered at a number of demolition sites and environmental cleanup locations. The use of unapproved methods is counter to EPA regulations and may jeopardize the health and safety of the public, the inspector general said.

For example, the report said, settled dust results obtained from testing during Alternative Asbestos Control Method demolition experiments in Fort Worth, Texas and Fort Chaffee, Arkansas demonstrated asbestos fiber releases. Video footage show workers at the demolition sites without personal protective equipment. Unprotected workers in adjacent areas and any members of the public in the vicinity may have been exposed.

The inspector general’s report said EPA should retract any approval for the use of alternative asbestos removal methods that deviate from the recognized standards.

Approximately, 3,000 people are diagnosed with mesothelioma in the United States each year. Many are older workers, retirees and veterans who were exposed to asbestos in the workplace. The symptoms of mesothelioma take decades to appear so people recently diagnosed with mesothelioma may have inhaled asbestos fibers in the 1960s or 1970s.

Vaccine May Enlist Body’s Immune System to Kill Mesothelioma Cancer Cells

• Nancy Meredith
• Asbestos Exposure, Mesothelioma, Research

Researchers at the Mayo Clinic and the University of Georgia have developed a vaccine that may offer a promising new strategy for treating various cancers including mesothelioma. An aggressive cancer associated with breathing asbsestos, mesothelioma originates most often in the lining of the lung and abdominal cavity.

The vaccine, which has shown dramatic results at reducing tumors in mice in laboratory experiments, helps a cancer patient’s immune system identify cancer cells and kill them, according to an article this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Treatments that employ the body’s own defenses are known as immunotherapy. The research was funded by the National Cancer Institute.

Scientists have long sought to direct the immune system to distinguish when cells become cancerous by the distinct changes that sugars on the cell’s surface undergo. But since cancer cells originate within the body, the immune system generally doesn’t recognize them as foreign.

The vaccine identifies a special protein that is  a signature of certain cancer cells. When malignant tumors occur, they produce the protein MUC1 at high levels, promoting the growth of tumors. Mesothelioma is among the types of cancer in which MUC1 is overexpressed, previous studies such as a 2008 study have shown.

“This is the first time that a vaccine has been developed that trains the immune system to distinguish and kill cancer cells based on their different sugar structures on proteins such as MUC1,” Sandra Gendler, a cancer researcher at the Mayo Clinic in Arizona and co-author of the study said in a press release.

The National Cancer Institute recently recognized MUC1 as one of the three most important tumor proteins for vaccine development, Dr. Gendler noted. MUC1 is found in more than 70 percent of lethal cancers including breast cancer, pancreatic cancer, ovarian, multiple myeloma, lung cancer and mesothelioma.

Geert-Jans Boons, a cancer researcher at the University of Georgia Cancer Center and developer of the vaccine, said the treatment, called MUC1 tripartite immunotherapy, produces a very strong immune response. The vaccine was shown to reduce tumors in mice by 80 percent or more, the researcher said.

The researchers are currently testing the vaccine’s effectiveness  against cultured human cancer cells in the laboratory to assess toxicity. Phase I clinical trials involving cancer patients to assess the safety of the vaccine could begin in 2013.

Approximately 3,000 people are diagnosed with mesothelioma each year in the United States. Most are older workers, retired workers and veterans who were exposed to asbestos decades ago in the workplace.

Mesothelioma has a long incubation period, typically taking 30 to 50 years for symptoms to appear. When it does appear, the cancer is stubbornly resistant to conventional treatments such as chemotherapy and radiation and has a high fatality rate. So more effective treatments are urgently needed.