Mesothelioma Cancer Resources Blog

Many mesothelioma researchers have to rely on funding from private organizations and on donations from the general public to keep their projects active and moving forward.  However, in 2008, the United States Department of Defense (DoD), who is responsible for funding and promoting research on diseases related to military service, began awarding mesothelioma grants.  Since …

Mesothelioma is an asbestos-related cancer that is usually diagnosed in older men – after spending years as trade workers such as insulators, plumbers and pipefitters, electricians and sheet metal workers.  With an extended incubation period, it is often not diagnosed for decades after asbestos exposure.  So when Austin Lacy, a high-school football player from Pasadena, …

A new study that will look at how mesothelioma affects patients’ emotional and physical well-being could provide a more complete picture of the disease’s toll on victims and families, New York mesothelioma attorney Joseph W. Belluck said today. New York’s Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center announced that it is conducting an investigation into how mesothelioma patients …

Mesothelioma is a unique and rare form of cancer, typically affecting the lining of the lungs, caused by exposure to asbestos fibers.  Usually not diagnosed until symptoms appear, sometimes decades after exposure to asbestos, patients are left with few treatment options as the disease rapidly progresses.  The treatments at this point are often palliative and …

by Nancy Meredith An international collaboration effort is underway to study and improve the current staging system for malignant pleural mesothelioma.  Led by the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC), and in collaboration with the International Mesothelioma Interest Group (IMIG), the Prospective Staging Project in Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma was formally initiated at …

Asbestos causes cancer. That was again the official word from a congressionally mandated study of cancer-causing substances released this month, New York mesothelioma attorney Joseph W. Belluck said recently.  The 12th edition of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Report on Carcinogens found “asbestos and all commercial forms of asbestos are known to …

Asbestos is a known carcinogen and is proven to cause mesothelioma, a serious cancer resulting from breathing in the asbestos fibers that then become lodged in the thin membrane that lines and encases the lungs.  Exposure to asbestos is also the direct cause of other diseases including respiratory disease, asbestosis and lung cancer. Yet, while …

In April, the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO)  released a provisional clinical opinion (PCO) stating that by first determining whether advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients, and likely mesothelioma patients, have mutations of the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) gene, oncologists can select a chemotherapy drug that may be better suited to treat the …

Malignant mesothelioma patients could have an exceptional treatment option in the next few years if researchers in Britain can prove the effectiveness of a vaccine in their trials with pancreatic cancer patients. The “TeloVac jab,” according to researchers at Liverpool University, is part of a new generation of drugs that “use the body’s own defenses …

Mesothelioma, an aggressive, asbestos-related cancer, is shown to be chemo-resistant in many cases.  The chemotherapy may offer relief of symptoms to patients, but it limits the ability of oncologists to use the powerful drugs as a curative treatment.  However, researchers at the University of Toronto Mississauga have identified “a totally new approach to cancer therapy” …