Any form of cancer does not only affect the person diagnosed, but the family also. Every year more than two thousand people are diagnosed with mesothelioma, one of the most dreaded diseases that is linked to inhalation of asbestos dust and fibers. This disease lies dormant hiding itself for many years or even decades before revealing its dark face, by which time it is often too late to do anything about it. The most unfortunate aspect of this disease is that it is often misdiagnosed because it has symptoms that are similar to other diseases and certain types of lung cancer.

Over the years, science has advanced tremendously but there have not been many breakthroughs in research and many clinical trials underway currently, for the diagnosis and treatment of mesothelioma.

Dr. Anton Berns from The Netherlands Cancer Institute says, “There is an urgent need for experimental models of malignant mesothelioma that can be used to not only study the onset and progression of the disease, but also to serve as a model to select new combination therapies and targeted agents.”

This is precisely the reason why the results of the latest test conducted by the Columbia University Medical Center and Rosetta Genomics Ltd. is being hailed as a major breakthrough, especially for people suffering from this form of cancer. Researchers say that now they can differentiate between lung cancers of two forms, squamous and the non-squamous non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

This is crucial because this rare form of cancer often gives the impression of one of the other less deadly types of lung cancers and because of this misdiagnosis, ends up becoming life threatening within months.

This test was based on microRNA, which is the proprietary technology of Rosetta Genomics. They are involved in testing microRNA-based drugs, as microRNA genes that have been recently discovered, are naturally occurring and seen to be involved in all biological processes in the human body. Since most of the diseases are caused due to abnormal protein activity and microRNAs have the ability to regulate protein activity, researchers have discovered that they could provide the means to treat many diseases. Studies have revealed that microRNA helps understand the fate of a cell.

There is another breakthrough just around the corner, in the form of Lovastatin, a common cholesterol drug. This drug that was introduced in the 1980s showed some exciting results in the lab tests – it not only worked on lipids, but also attacked cancer cells. Researchers found that in order for Lovastatin to attack the cancer cells, unusually high doses need to be used, which cannot be done. However, further research revealed that a combination of Lovastatin with other drugs in safe doses provides the same result. In fact, patients in the later stages of melanoma showed tremendous improvement within just a few weeks and researchers are hopeful that this will work with mesothelioma as well.

A new clinical research being performed is by Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital and Columbia University Medical Center, on a new targeted radiation and chemotherapy protocol for pleural mesothelioma, which is the cancer of the lining of the lungs, almost always caused by exposure to asbestos and the results should be out next year.

Researchers say that there is still plenty of work that needs to be done in order to find new ways of diagnosing and treating mesothelioma, and use the existing treatments in a better way. They say that trials, even the disappointing ones, are another step in the right direction. It takes a lot of wrong answers to derive at the right one, and mesothelioma patients and their families await that one right answer with hope in their hearts.

Being diagnosed with mesothelioma is understandably met with disbelief, shock and dread, but that soon gives way to investigating the disease and looking at what is going on in the world of mesothelioma therapies and treatments.

There are several treatment options for mesothelioma, although none have been capable of curing cancer caused by asbestos exposure. Conventional methods used for treating have not proved successful and the survival rate of patients after treatment has been below twelve months.

Earlier, treatment was often aggressive in the form of surgeries; however, a lot of progress has been made in the medical field and surgery is now combined with chemotherapy or/and radiation therapy. There are several other treatment options available as well as a whole lot of research going on in this field.

Surgery by itself has proven to be unsuccessful, which involves a pleurectomy, where the chest lining is taken out. A not-so-common surgery involves taking out the inside lining of the chest, the pericardium and the hemi-diaphragm are also taken out, and this is known as the extrapleural pneumonectomy. Both are major surgeries requiring long periods of anesthesia, and people with heart problems or poor lung capacity are not considered good candidates for these surgeries.

Radiation is often performed after surgery on the entire hemi-thorax and is given along with chemotherapy. Radiation is the method of using x-rays to kill the cancer cells. This has a good success rate with the extension of the survival time and some patients have been seen to survive even as long as more than five years.

However, radiation without surgery was not proven to be successful as the amount of radiation that is required then would be highly toxic; although, low doses of radiation may help shrink the size of the tumor and provide some pain relief.

Chemotherapy drugs are given to kill the cells and stop them from growing. These drugs are either given orally or by injection. In spite of several combinations of chemotherapy drugs having been tried, they have not proved to be successful in extending the survival rate by long. However, according to physicians, chemotherapy in conjunction with radiation and surgery has the potential of improving survival rates.

Apart from these treatments, there have been a lot of new therapies that have come up, such as immunotherapy, heat therapy, gene therapy and photodynamic therapy, which have not done much for the cause of mesothelioma.

However, a recent mesothelioma research is said to reveal promising results. It has been noticed by researchers that using non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs combined with cisplatin, which is a chemotherapy drug, has shown to have an anti-tumoral effect on the mesothelioma cells. The NSAID that was said to be used with this study is piroxicam.

The study that was published in the Journal of Transitional Medicine says, “treatment with piroxicam or CDDP alone altered the cell cycle phase distribution as well as the expression of some cell cycle regulatory proteins in both cell lines and these effects were increased, even if in a not completely overlapping manner, after treatment with the association of piroxicam and CDDP.”

Mesothelioma is a painful cancer and physicians say that patients suffering from this need supportive treatment to control the shortness of breath and pain. This may be the only treatment available for patients on whom surgery cannot be done for various reasons or others who may not wish to undergo surgery. Supportive treatment could also include low doses of radiation therapy that relieves the pain as well as medications. There are several reasons why mesothelioma patients suffer from shortness of breath, including pleural effusion, which involves collection of fluid.

Physicians say that in this scenario, when there is no sure cure for mesothelioma, the only thing that a sufferer could do is take the best possible medical care available and target the disease. All the treatment options available can be discussed with the physician who will then decide on the most suitable treatment for the patient, based on the type of tumor and the stage of tumor.

It is also advisable to join one of the several mesothelioma support groups, as they certainly provide the emotional support that cancer patients need and help them with coping with the disease the best they can.

Human beings are susceptible to diseases that make our body weak but conditions such as cancer make us emotionally low as well, due to the fear factor and loss of hope involved, which is a result of lack of proper cure. The uncertainty of life hits home hardest when any type of cancer is diagnosed.

Mesothelioma is one of the most common primary tumors involving the pleura, which is the outer covering of the lungs and the cavity of the chest. It may sometimes occur in the peritoneum too, which is the abdominal cavity lining or even the pericardium surrounding the heart. This cancer is considered to be difficult for physicians to diagnose and treat.

There are different ways in which a person can get affected by this dreaded disease.

Mesothelioma due to asbestos exposure is the most common. Who would have thought that a simple exposure to a substance that is used in many products and in workplaces can spell disaster?

Asbestos exposure has been proved to lead to serious and fatal diseases, such as mesothelioma. Unfortunately, the symptoms are slow to show up and take a long time to develop and in some cases it may take more than twenty years. Research shows that people who smoke tobacco and have been exposed to asbestos are at a far greater risk for cancer than non-smokers.

There are several factors that determine how an individual is affected by this exposure, such as the concentration of the asbestos fibers, the duration of the exposure, the shape, size and the chemical elements of the fibers. Physicians believe that the thin and long fibers are the most dangerous because they can reach the alveolar region, the lower airways of the lung, and remain in the lung for a longer period of time and are more toxic than the other short or wide fibers. The wider particles cannot reach the lung and pleura and remain in the upper respiratory tract.

Occupational exposure to asbestos has been considered as a hazard for a long time. This risk of asbestos exposure is more apparent at workplaces, such as shipyards, mines, manufacturing plants, construction sites, railroads and several other places. This exposure usually occurs when the asbestos products are damaged.

Earlier, when asbestos mining used to take place, while no deaths were reported during the first ten years of exposure, there were reports of eighty-five deaths occurring in 20 years time. Even people with a minimal exposure of breathing air through ventilation systems have been diagnosed with mesothelioma.

Secondary or bystander exposure, meaning people who get exposed to asbestos through some other family member or someone else who is directly exposed to asbestos, also are at high risk of mesothelioma. Experts believe that this could be because of the asbestos dust that the workers bring home on themselves. To ensure the family members do not get affected, usually companies make it a rule that asbestos workers shower and change their clothes before going off work.

Environmental exposure to mesothelioma refers to people who are living in areas where there are asbestos mines or manufacturing plants. There was a case at Libby Montana, where vermiculite, which is a non asbestos mineral silicate was found to be highly contaminated with asbestos and children who played in the vermiculite heaps in the town were said to have developed mesothelioma and other related diseases. Non industrial exposure may occur because of soil that is contaminated with fibers or the use of erionite, which is a fibrous rock in buildings.

Workers, who perform renovation of buildings containing asbestos materials as well as people living in the surrounding areas where the renovation is taking place, are also exposed to asbestos dust and thus are at risk of contacting mesothelioma. Previously, before asbestos was banned, asbestos was used as part of building materials for both domestic and public premises.

The main and the only known cause of mesothelioma worldwide is exposure to asbestos. It is often related to some sort of occupational exposure, even if it is for a brief duration.

Researchers have found that asbestos manufacturers knew the hazards of asbestos exposure even as long as fifty to sixty years ago; however, they chose not to reveal this as it could affect their businesses and profits. It was in the 1960s that the first warnings came out to public notice, but were never stressed enough to make people understand the implications.

Even in the present day, there are many cases where workers are not completely aware of the health hazards, leaving them at a huge risk of falling prey to the dreaded mesothelioma and other such conditions.

It is unfortunate that thousands of individuals suffer and lose their lives for no mistake of theirs and part of it is because people have become so insensitive to fellow human beings’ suffering.