Mesothelioma Blog

The Molcule of the Day blog has an entry today on doxorubicin, a chemotherapy agent.  Like many chemotherapy drugs, doxorubicin interferes with DNA and stops cells from replicating.  Doxorubicin is used for treatment of many cancers, and has been around for decades.

Jaqueline Lees, a cancer researcher, is in an online video on cancer.  It’s quite good, and she is better than most scientists when it comes to talking to the public about technical issues.  She explains the development of tumors through several stages, which can potentially take years.  This makes sense to anyone who follows mesothelioma […]

The University of Pennsylvania’s Oncolink website had an article by Carolyn Vachan on dietary supplements, which is often a sore spot with doctors and medical researchers even as they are very popular with the general public.  Supplements (vitamins, minerals, etc.) make up a $23 billion industry in the United States, and they are largely unregulated.  The FDA […]

The American College of Physicians put out new guidelines for palliative care last week.  The suggestions include regular assessment for pain and dyspnea for patients with a serious illness late in life, management of pain through accepted norms, and use of proven therapies to control dyspnea.  More on this.

The New York Times has a story about new experimental trials on cancer stem cells that drive tumor growth. Cancerous cells do not undergo apoptosis easily, which is why cancer is such a tough disease.  But the new idea is that the bulk of cancer cells eventually die just like regular cells - the culprit […]

Interesting post over at Google’s Health Advertising Blog.  They quote the consulting firm Prospectiv’s poll that shows the internet is the most trusted media for health information.  75% of those surveyed named the Internet as the place to get info, while 15% said broadcast media and 10% said magazines.  The best places on the web […]

Eli Lilly released a press release last week reporting on data from experience of Alimta treatment of mesothelioma.  Now that the medicine has been on the market and available to a large portion of patients for a couple years, there is good evidence that it helps extended life expectancies.  Lilly has also applied for European […]

Scientists in Australia found that the high concentrations of mesothelin in pleural effusions and peritoneal effusions are a marker for mesothelioma.  This may help doctors develop better methods for diagnosis of mesothelioma.  Diagnosis has always been difficult because the early symptoms (pleural effusions) can be due to many conditions.

New prize for cancer research.  Researchers submit their ideas and fill out an application.  The judges award $1 million to the winner for personal use.  All member ideas become public.  They are calling this The Gotham Prize and are planning to give it once a year, starting in February 2008.
The idea of monetary prizes in […]

The field of cancer treatment includes many promising area and paths for possible advances.  Angiogenesis, kinase inhibitors, tomotherapy, proton therapy, and more.  One exciting area is the development of vaccines to prevent cancer.  Researchers around the world are making advances and are in animal trials.  It might be several years before we get any human […]