Mesothelioma Help Cancer News
Cases of Mesothelioma Disease on the Rise, World Health Organization Warns
A recent bulletin published by the World Health Organization estimates that 92,252 people around the world died of mesothelioma in the 15-year period from 1994 through 2008. Two-thirds of those deaths have occurred since the year 2000 and the incidence of mesothelioma is on the rise, the report said. Mesothelioma is an aggressive and largely preventable form of cancer associated with breathing asbestos fibers.
A preponderance of the mesothelioma deaths analyzed by the WHO involved pleural mesothelioma, a malignant cancer of the lining of the lung and chest cavity. Pleural mesothelioma is seen far more often than peritoneal mesothelioma, a cancer of the lining of the abdomen caused by ingesting asbestos dust. Pericardial mesothelioma, a cancer of the lining of the heart, is rarer still.
Mesothelioma is slow growing and symptoms typically appear 30 years or longer after initial exposure to asbestos. Many mesothelioma sufferers are retired workers or veterans. The median survival after diagnosis is typically 9 to 12 months and the median age at death 70.
Of the 92,252 recorded mesothelioma deaths, the vast majority occurred in high income industrialized countries including the United States, the United Kingdom and countries in Western Europe, the report said. The countries with the highest cumulative mesothelioma deaths tended to be the countries that were the largest users of asbestos. They also are more diligent in recording mesothelioma deaths.
Underreporting is a common problem with rare diseases such as mesothelioma that are difficult to diagnose. The actual number of mesothelioma deaths is likely much higher, the researchers acknowledged. Some countries such as China, India, Thailand and the Russian Federation that are large users of asbestos did not provide mesothelioma death data to the World Health Organization.
The use of asbestos has been strictly limited in the United States since the late 1970s and it has been banned in many European nations. Still, many workers such as construction workers, electricians, plumbers and demolition workers face an occupational hazard of asbestos exposure in the workplace. The WHO said the burden of mesothelioma may be gradually shifting to developing countries that used asbestos more recently and those countries should prepare for an increase in the number of mesothelioma deaths in coming decades.
New York Father Raises Awareness for Peritoneal Mesothelioma As His Daughter Battles the Disease
A Mechanicville, New York father has taken his kayak to the Hudson River to help raise the public’s awareness of peritoneal mesothelioma. His 26-year-old daughter was diagnosed with the disease nine years ago and was given just twelve months to live. Since then she has endured six surgeries, and now, her father says, she is in constant pain.
Peritoneal mesothelioma is a form of cancer that is almost always caused by asbestos exposure and affects the lining of the abdomen. While there are close to 3,000 cases of all forms of mesothelioma diagnosed in the United States each year, less than 10% of those are peritoneal. The cancer, which is often associated with former industrial workers who were exposed to asbestos decades ago, is virtually unheard of among young adults.
Treatment of peritoneal mesothelioma is often similar to other cancers involving surgery, chemotherapy and radiation. However, physicians at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, known for treating mesothelioma patients, often use hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemoperfusion (HIPEC) as a means to battle the disease. HIPEC involves bathing the patient’s abdomen with heated high-dose chemotherapy drugs to reach the multiple tumors within the abdominal cavity. The news article in the TimesUnion.com did not indicate where the woman is being treated.
The man and his friends paddled from Schuylerville to Mechanicville. One friend was diagnosed with the same disease two years ago and wanted to offer her support to the family. The trio kayaked about 16 miles through locks 4 and 3. The man hopes to make this an annual trip with next year’s being bigger and better.
Mesothelioma, Lung Cancer and Respiratory Diseases Explored in ATS 9/11 Online Library
On the 10th anniversary of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States, the American Thoracic Society (ATS) has added a page to their website entitled “The Respiratory Aftermath of 9/11.” Their online library contains information focused on the health risks rescue workers are now facing, such as mesothelioma, as well as other respiratory illnesses, from inhaling the noxious cloud of dust containing asbestos and other toxic substances.
About 400 tons of asbestos were used in the towers, and upon their collapse, asbestos and other toxic substances such as mercury and lead were released into the air putting workers at risk of mesothelioma, a cancer of the lining of the lung, abdomen and heart caused by inhaling asbestos fibers. Symptoms of mesothelioma typically appear 20 to 50 years after exposure, leading some researchers to report that the incidence of mesothelioma will increase in the United States over the coming decades.
The information compiled on the site explores “the various respiratory manifestations and issues arising from exposure to the World Trade Center dust as well as the pulmonary complications of the US soldiers fighting in the Middle East.”
Offering webcasts, articles, editorials and letters previously published in ATS journals, the site allows visitors to learn the results of much of the research conducted over the last ten years that have delved into the health of ground-zero workers and the nearby residents. Multiple studies report that many workers are afflicted with ongoing respiratory issues. Others assess the long-term effects of hyper-exposure to the dust.
Articles featured on the ATS 9/11 anniversary site include:
- Medical Surveillance, Diagnosis and Prevention of Post-Deployment Occupational Lung Disease
- Pulmonary Function after Exposure to the World Trade Center Collapse in the New York City Fire Department
- Editorial: The World Trade Center Collapse: A Continuing Tragedy for Lung Health?
- Persistent Hyperreactivity and Reactive Airway Dysfunction in Firefighters at the World Trade Center
This information, as well as that offered by The Lancet in their September 1, 2011, issue focusing on the short-term and long-term health consequences of the terrorist attacks, is an invaluable resource for mesothelioma advocates, physicians and the general public hoping to understand the serious lingering health effects from the 9/11 events.
The ATS states that lung-related diseases are the third-leading cause of deaths worldwide, and their goal is to advance the clinical and scientific understanding of pulmonary diseases, critical illnesses and sleep-related breathing disorders.
Breakthrough in Using Immune System to Fight Cancer Through Gene Therapy
Researchers have long hoped to use the human immune system to kill malignant cancer cells. A new study in The New England Journal of Medicine suggests scientists at the University of Pennsylvania may have made significant strides in that approach using experimental gene therapy.
William Ludwig, a retired corrections officer from Bridgeton, N.J., volunteered for the experimental cancer treatment, because his chemotherapy had stopped working and he had few options, according to an article in The New York Times. Today, a year after the novel treatment, Ludwig’s chronic leukemia is in complete remission and he is playing golf and working in the yard. The same approach may work with other cancers besides leukemia, doctors say.
As part of the experimental treatment, the doctors removed a billion of Ludwig’s T-cells, white blood cells that fight viruses and malignant cells, and re-engineered them. They exposed the T-cells to a disabled form of the HIV-1 virus, which genetically altered the T-cells. They reprogrammed the T-cells to hone in on Ludwig’s leukemia and to reproduce in large numbers when activated by chemicals produced by malignant cells. They then reintroduced the T-cells into Ludwig’s blood.
Initially, Ludwig suffered flu-like symptoms such as a temperature and chills as the T-cells reproduced. The T-cells multiplied to 1,000 to 10,000 times the number infused, wiped out the cancer, then gradually diminished, leaving a rear guard of T-cells that can proliferate again if they sense more malignant cells. After a few weeks, Ludwig’s flu symptoms disappeared and there was no trace of the leukemia.
The doctors caution that the treatment is still experimental and are not yet claiming that Ludwig is cured. But a similar approach may work for treating other forms of cancer, the doctors say. Dr. Carl June, head of the research team at the University of Pennsylvania, plans to try the treatment approach on solid tumors produced by cancers such as ovarian cancer, pancreatic cancer and mesothelioma. Mesothelioma is an aggressive cancer of the lining of the lungs and abdomen closely associated with exposure to asbestos.
Approximately 2,500 to 3,000 people are diagnosed with mesothelioma each year in the United States. Many sufferers are retired workers and veterans who were exposed to asbestos decades ago, even if they didn’t realize it. Symptoms of mesothelioma typically appear 20 to 50 years after exposure, making the diagnosis more difficult.
Genetic Predisposition to Mesothelioma Observed by Cancer Researchers
By Wade Rawlins
People who carry a mutation in a certain gene are susceptible to developing mesothelioma and exposure to asbestos may significantly increase the risk of developing the life-threatening respiratory cancer, according to new research funded by the National Cancer Institute.
The study published in Nature Genetics reports on two American families with a high incidence of mesothelioma as well as other cancers associated with mutations of the BAP1 gene. It is the first study to demonstrate that family genetic makeup can influence susceptibility to mesothelioma, a cancer of the lining of the lung and abdomen. The discovery may lead to early detection and benefit people who have been exposed to asbestos in the workplace, people with a family history of mesothelioma and individuals who have previously been diagnosed with a rare tumor of the eye known as uveal melanoma.
Mesothelioma takes the lives of about 3,000 people a year in the U.S. The incidence of mesothelioma has risen steadily in the last decade in some parts of the world, including Europe and China. Yet, only a small portion of people exposed to asbestos or eronite, another mineral fiber similar to asbestos, develop symptoms of mesothelioma.
Scientists at the University of Hawaii Cancer Center in Honolulu and Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia followed two extended families with unusually high rates of mesothelioma for 14 years. The researchers suspected that mutations of the BAP1 gene, which is involved in tumor suppression, might underlie mesothelioma in people with a strong family history of the disease after noticing genetic changes in or near stretches of DNA where the BAP1 gene is located.
When the scientists looked more closely, they saw that every person who had provided a DNA sample and had developed mesothelioma or melanoma of the eye also carried mutations in the BAP1 gene.
The researchers then studied the genetic makeup of 26 patients diagnosed with mesothelioma who did not have a known family history of asbestos-related disease. They observed that tumors in about a fourth of the patients contained mutations in the BAP1 gene. In two cases, the mutations were inherited. Both of the individuals with inherited mutations had previously developed melanoma of the eye.
“The discovery is the first step in understanding the role of the BAP1 gene and its potential utility when screening for mutations in those at high risk,” said Michele Carbone, M.D., director of the University of Hawaii Cancer Center in a prepared statement. “Identifying people at greatest risk for developing mesothelioma, especially those exposed to dangerous levels of asbestos and eronite worldwide, is a task made easier by virtue of this discovery.”
People in jobs in which asbestos is an occupational hazard such as mining, shipbuilding, maintenance, plumbing and electrical work have a higher incidence of asbestos-related disease.
The study found evidence that some individuals with the BAP1 gene mutations also developed breast, ovarian, pancreatic and renal cancers, suggesting the gene mutation may be involved in multiple cancer types, also known as a cancer syndrome. About 10 percent of women with an inherited risk of breast or ovarian cancer carry mutations in the genes BRCA1 or BRCA2, which are associated with those diseases. Some inherited risk of breast or ovarian cancer may be associated with mutations in the BAP1 gene.
Just as breast cancer is linked to more than one gene mutation, Fox Chase scientists Joseph R. Testa, who led the study with Carbone, said that it appears likely that other genes in addition to BAP1 will be found to be linked with elevated risk of mesothelioma.
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