Mesothelioma patients face surgery, and chemotherapy and radiation treatments when battling their cancer. This multi-mode approach typically offers the longest survival for patients. However, patients are often left exhausted from the side effects, including nausea, vomiting, and weight loss, that are common with these treatments. Now, researchers report that cancer patients that received the experimental drug enobosarm during cancer treatments had significantly less muscle loss.
According to the researchers, up to 50% of patients with lung cancer show severe cachexia (muscle wasting) at the time of diagnosis, and the muscle wasting increases throughout the course of the malignancy. Unfortunately, patients suffering from muscle and weight loss do not respond as well to treatments.
Mesothelioma is a unique form of cancer, caused by asbestos exposure, where tumors develop on the lining of the lungs. Although lung cancer and mesothelioma are distinct cancers, the impact of the diseases on the patient, and the treatments, are similar.
Dr. Adrian Dobs, Professor of Medicine and Oncology, Vice-Chair, Department of Medicine, Faculty Development, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, set out to find a treatment that would help patients maintain muscle mass during treatment and would not have any major side-effects.
As reported in OncologyPractice.com, Dobs found in a randomized clinical trial that both male and female cancer patients treated with enobosarm had significant improvement in muscle mass and muscle power (as measured by climbing stairs.)
Enobosarm is a non-steroidal selective androgen receptor modulators (SARM) that produces anabolic effects in bone and muscle without causing the prostate effects in men or hair growth in women that is seen with steroids.
Two phase III clinical trials are underway to study effects of 3 mg/day of enobosarm for the prevention and treatment of muscle wasting in patients with non–small cell lung cancer, according to the article.
For the 3,000 Americans diagnosed with mesothelioma each year, clinical trials may offer them the best available treatment as well as the opportunity to receive new, potentially more effective therapies against mesothelioma.
