Aug 20
The August bulletin of the National Cancer Institute features a clinical trial involving immunotherapy for patients with advanced mesothelioma and other cancers that express mesothelin, a specific protein. Mesothelioma is an incurable cancer of the lining of the chest cavity and abdominal cavity caused by inhaling asbestos fibers.
Immunotherapy is an emerging treatment that harnesses the body's own immune system to fight cancer and other illnesses. Researchers at the National Cancer Institute are leading research efforts to develop a type of immunotherapy called adoptive cell transfer or ACT.
The therapy involves collecting immune system cells, also known as T cells, from a mesothelioma patient and multiplying the cells in the laboratory to many times their original number. This increases the number of immune cells available to kill cancer cells or fight infections. The researchers then return the immune cells to the patient.
NCI researchers led by Dr. Steven Rosenberg are examining the potential of genetically engineering immune cells to recognize and bind to a particular protein found in the patients' cancer cells.The target protein is mesothelin, which occurs in tissue lining the chest cavity and the abdominal cavity and other parts of the body.
Mesothelin is present in normal cells, but larger amounts of the protein are present in mesotheliomas and some types of lung, ovarian and esophageal cancers. The increased amount of mesothelin in malignant cells flags the presence of cancer and makes an inviting target for immunotherapy. The researchers want to try the therapy on people with advanced cancer that has not responded to standard treatments such as chemotherapy.
In the clinical trial, Dr. Rosenberg's research team collect immune cells from the blood of patients with advanced cancer that expresses mesothelin. By blocking the mesothelin, researchers expect the therapy will help shrink tumors. They modify the immune cells to recognize mesothelin and grow them in a laboratory.
Patients will have chemotherapy to prepare their immune system to receive the modified immune cells and remain in the hospital for at least two weeks. Doctors will monitor the results of the treatment with frequent blood tests and imaging scans.
The study is currently recruiting patients. It's expected to continue through 2018. More information about the trial can be found here.
Mesothelioma is a cancer of the lining of the lung and abdominal cavity causing by inhaling asbestos. Approximately 2,500 to 3,000 people in the United States are diagnosed with mesothelioma each year. The disease is incurable, though there are treatments including chemotherapy, radiation and surgery.
Most people diagnosed with mesothelioma are older workers, retired workers or veterans who were exposed to asbestos fibers in the workplace or military service. Microscopic asbestos fibers when inhaled can lodge in the lungs and remain there a lifetime causing inflammation that eventually leads to asbestos related disease.
For more information about mesothelioma, click here.
