For patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma that has grown despite treatment with standard chemotherapy, no treatment has yet proven beneficial. The purpose of this study is to find out what effects, both good and bad, that everolimus has on the cancer. Everolimus works by blocking a protein that helps the cancer grow. The goal of this clinical research study is to learn if the study drug everolimus can shrink or slow the growth of mesothelioma. The safety of this drug will also be studied. The patients’ physical state, changes in the size of the tumor, and laboratory findings taken during the study will help us decide if everolimus is safe and effective.

Drug developer Bionomics Ltd plans to conduct a Phase II clinical trial of its leading compound, anti-cancer drug BNC105, on 60 Mesothelioma patients in Australia next year.

Prometheus Laboratories Inc., a specialty pharmaceutical and diagnostic company, today announced the nationwide commercial launch of three new cancer diagnostic products: ProOnc TumorSourceDx, ProOnc SquamousDx and ProOnc MesotheliomaDx. Each of these tests is based on recently developed, highly sensitive microRNA technology.

Purpose: Malignant pleural mesotheliomas (MPMs) are tumours associated with asbestos exposure involving the tissue lining surrounding the lung. Radiation therapy (RT) dramatically reduces the risk of tumour recurrence within the irradiated area (>90%). But patients continue to succumb to MPMs due to the tumour spreading outside the chest cavity. This may be due to tumour cells inadvertently contaminating areas outside the chest cavity during surgery. The study will look at whether giving a short intense course of chest radiation just prior to surgery will sterilized these tumour cells and thus, avoid or reduce contamination of the areas outside the chest cavity. The investigators hypothesize that short neoadjuvant (pre-operative) hemithoracic RT, followed by immediate planned extrapleural pneumonectomy (EPP) (+/- adjuvant chemotherapy) will reduce the risk of intra-operative seeding and reduce the incidence of distant metastatic disease.

PINEHURST – The FirstHealth of the Carolinas Clinical Trials Department has partnered with the Wake Forest School of Medicine to promote participation in a research study investigating the development and progression of asbestos-related lung diseases and cancers.

Despite the best surgical efforts, complete removal of mesothelioma is possible in approximately 30% of the patients. When surgical removal is complete, chemotherapy followed by radiation therapy is recommended as an effort to improve control over the cancer and survival. This combination of treatments is called TRIMODALITY therapy. Unfortunately, the chances for the tumor coming back after TRIMODALITY therapy remains high. When surgical removal is not complete or not possible, some patients may receive chemo and/or radiation therapy to achieve control over the cancer, but the chances of tumor to growth again remains high and the chances of long term survival remains low.

After standard treatments failed to stop or slow the progression of her cancer, the first mesothelioma patient treated with a new protocol has shown a highly favorable response. These early results are similar to the investigative protocol’s success against several other very aggressive cancers.

This trial explores the use of new radiation technology (tomotherapy), to treat mesothelioma more aggressively than has been possible before. Tomotherapy’s ability to treat unusual shaped tumours, particularly when they are wrapped around sensitive normal tissues (the lung), enable higher doses of radiation to be used and this may improve its effectiveness. We will treat 17 patients with tomotherapy and assess the breathing, symptoms, and quality of life of the patients before and after treatment

Video-assisted surgery to remove part of the tissue layer covering the inside of the chest cavity may be effective in treating pleural effusion and cause less damage to normal tissue. Talc pleurodesis may keep fluid from building up in the chest cavity. It is not yet known which therapy is more effective in treating pleural effusion caused by malignant mesothelioma.

A new strategy proposed by researchers at Dartmouth Medical School and Amtek, Hanover, NH may treat tumors that do not respond to conventional treatment. The study, which was published on May 29th in the open access, peer reviewed journal PLoS ONE, uses a combination of two agents to selectively kill tumors while protecting healthy cells.