News Categories
Resources For Living
Mesothelioma Forum
Legal Help Blog
Find a Doctor Near You
About Mesothelioma
Latest News
- Researchers Confirm Chromosome Deletion Among Meso...
- CDC Reports That Deaths From Mesothelioma Are Stil...
- MesotheliomaHelp.net Announces Expanded Informatio...
- United Nations Assures Staff That Renovations Are ...
- House Renovators and Home Repairmen at High Risk f...
- Advance in Cancer Diagnosis
- Secretary Tells Panel Museums Are Safe
- Emission Of Airborne Fibers From Mechanically Impa...
- Asbestos-link Cancer Rates Revealed
- New Clinical Trial for Treatment of Mesothelioma
News Archives
- April 2007
- May 2007
- June 2007
- July 2007
- August 2007
- September 2007
- October 2007
- November 2007
- December 2007
- January 2008
- February 2008
- March 2008
- April 2008
- May 2008
- June 2008
- July 2008
- August 2008
- September 2008
- October 2008
- November 2008
- December 2008
- January 2009
- February 2009
- March 2009
- April 2009
- May 2009
- June 2009
- July 2009
- August 2009
- September 2009
- October 2009
- November 2009
- December 2009
- January 2010
- February 2010
- March 2010
Friday, May 1, 2009
Even as recent advances in the treatment of malignant mesothelioma have led to a better long-term prognosis for some patients, physicians have not been able to definitely determine which patient classes have the best overall chances at long-term survival. Early diagnosis and epitheloid histology are typically seen as the best prognostic factors, but variations even exist among patients with these factors. In an attempt to learn more this question, physicians and researchers at Boston’s Brigham and Woman’s Hospital have conducted a number of retrospective gene expression studies using tissue samples from prior patients and the results of a recent prospective study involving 120 patients have confirmed many of their previous findings.
The physicians were able to isolate the relationships among four genes (TM4SF1/PKM2, TM4SF1/ARHGDIA, and COBLL1/ARHGDIA) to determine which patients were the likeliest to experience a better prognosis and which were likeliest to experience a more limited one. The authors report their testing predicted both overall survival and cancer-specific survival and the combination of the gene expression tests with traditional prognostic factors allowed them to create separate classifications of a high-risk group and low-risk group with significant accuracy.
The results of this research are quite promising for mesothelioma treatment and the authors call for more study of their testing methodology to determine its regular applicability to mesothelioma patients.
Labels: mesothelioma, treatments
posted by Joseph DiCastro at 12:41 PM
