Mesothelioma Immunotherapy and Gene Therapy

Immunotherapy, also referred to as biological therapy, is based on the theory that it is possible to mobilize the body's own immune defenses against cancerous cells. Another name often applies to this therapy, biological response modifiers (BRMs), and is described in this article.

There are several new experimental treatments that try to enhance the immune system's ability to combat malignant mesothelioma. These include gene therapy and the use of cytokine proteins such as interferons and interleukins. These treatments are also being tested in combination with chemotherapy and other treatments.

Gene Therapy:

This a new treatment which is currently in clinical trials. Using an adenovirus for delivery, a "suicide gene" is inserted directly into the tumor. This gene makes the cells sensitive to a normally ineffective drug, such as glanciclovir. Treatment with the drug then destroys those cells that are rapidly dividing - which are the cancer cells - leaving the healthy cells unharmed.

In theory, this approach allows treatment to target the tumor specifically, as opposed to treatments such as chemotherapy which also kill healthy cells.

Gene therapy for mesothelioma is being researched at the University of Pennsylvania, with Dr. Steven Albenda as the principal investigator. This treatment is not without risk, as became apparent in the death of Jesse Gelsinger, a University of Pennsylvania gene therapy trial participant. (Note that Mr. Gelsinger was not a participant in the mesothelioma trial.)

Cytokines - Interferons (IFN) and Interleukins (IL):

Cytokines are small proteins that occur naturally in the human body. They are similar to hormones and have specific effects on the behavior of other cells.

In 1976 Dr. Robert Gallo (later head of the National Cancer Institute, and famous for his work on HIV) isolated a cytokine protein molecule called interleukin-2 (IL2) which is capable of stimulating the growth of immune system cells called T-cells. T-cells are sometimes called "killer cells" because they search out malignant or virally infected cells and kill them. Using IL2 as a treatment for pleural mesothelioma is still in the experimental stages, but researchers hope that injecting IL2 intrapleurally will promote a significant anti-tumor response.

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Mesothelioma Angiogenesis Therapy

Cancer cells, like other cells in the human body, rely for their growth on a rich supply of blood. They must be surrounded by an effective network of capillaries and larger blood vessels that nourish the cells. The medical term for the process of developing this network is angiogenesis.
In fact, fast-growing cancers are highly efficient at promoting angiogenesis. They produce angiogenesis promoters that create capillaries and a network of blood vessels around the tumor. The tumor is nourished with an increasing supply of oxygen-rich blood, and it grows and spreads (or metastasizes).

Understanding that angiogenesis is fundamental to the process of how tumors grow and metastasize, medical researchers started to investigate how they could slow down, stop, or reduce angiogenesis. If they could do this, they reckoned, they could starve the tumor to death - or at least slow its growth significantly. The National Cancer Institute has created an illustrated teaching tool to better understand how angiogenesis works.

A number of antiangiogenesis drugs, also called angiogenesis inhibitors or angiogenic inhibitors, have been developed. When administered to laboratory animals with tumors, they have caused the tumors to shrink or even disappear. Endostatin, combrestatin, angiostatin, thrombospondin, and vascular endothelial growth inhibitor (VEGI) are among these experimental drugs.

A few of these drugs are now being tested on humans. One of them, combrestatin, destroys the lining of blood vessels around tumors. Another, endostatin, acts by impeding the growth of new blood vessels around the tumors. For endostatin there have recently been some promising developments. Harvard's Dana-Farber Cancer Institute released an updated report on Phase 1 trials of the angiogenic inhibitor and says it exhibits virtually no toxicity even at high doses, while shrinking tumors in two of 28 advanced cancer patients and slowing disease progression in four others for more than six months.

This area of cancer research holds promise for the treatment of mesothelioma tumors, but it is very much in the early and experimental stages.

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Mesothelioma Litigation

Mesothelioma litigation has increased during the second half of the 20th century as asbestos-exposed workers begin to show the underlying symptomology associated with mesothelioma cancer. In order to properly allocate liability and legal-financial responsibility for the ongoing mesothelioma cancer mortalities linked to asbestos exposure, trial attorneys are organizing class action lawsuits in order to represent victims' rights and interests.

Mesothelioma litigation reflects a cause of action undertaken by contingency law firm specialists on behalf of a large population segment that has been linked to asbestos exposure during their workplace environment. Individually, in order for you or your family member to qualify for inclusion within a mesothelioma litigation cause of action suit, you'll need to produce verifiable records evidencing your employment by the firm which goes to trial as defendant. Judicial due process rules also require that mesothelioma litigation evidence scientifically that you and the other victims have been exposed to asbestos and that pathology tests verify the presence of malignant mesothelioma.

Legal standards in a mesothelioma litigation cause of action are set at a high threshold for both plaintiff (victims' side) and defendant (company). In essence, the Court rules that the mesothelioma litigation plaintiff argument prevails if direct causality can be shown, linking verifiable evidence of asbestos contamination during the specific period when plaintiff was employed. With the spate of mesothelioma litigation over the past twenty years, many defendant companies have filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protections, their financial condition and vanishing insurer support rendering them cash-less and judgment proof in regards to collecting against a court judgment. A further complicating factor over-hanging mesothelioma litigations in America is the political lobbying in Washington DC which has caused Congress to weigh in to "cap" asbestos related class actions. In effect, mesothelioma litigation "over kill" has killed the "goose", and now little money is left to satisfy the compensatory damage claims ordered by the courts.

The pathway into mesothelioma litigation necessitates that you or your family member produce evidence of asbestos exposure, which could be minimal yet could have occurred 45 years ago. Many current mesothelioma cancer cases can be linked back to the US naval shipbuilding yards in World War II where over 4 million American men and women contributed to the war effort. As mesothelioma litigation court motions now set forth, workers handling piping and drywall materials were continuously exposed to asbestos, which was a significant insulating and protective covering bonded to pipes, wells, and certain dry wall insulating materials. Other mesothelioma litigation court documents have identified victims who were actually engaged in the asbestos extraction fields, dealing almost exclusively with asbestos each day. One additional plaintiff group has emerged in mesothelioma litigation, which includes those family members or other factory sites which experienced asbestos contamination due to "second hand" exposure where fibrous asbestos either migrated on wind currents between factories, or was brought into the home by Mom or Dad on work clothing, shoes, caps, hair and so on.

A planning consideration when participating in mesothelioma litigation procedures is to have your estate and financial affairs completely sorted out, so that any future jury-ordered award passes uninterruptedly to your heirs and assigns, according to law.

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