For those who have been exposed to asbestos, there is a risk they will go on to develop Mesothelioma, which is a particularly aggressive cancer which is resistant to usual cancer therapies and claims the lives of around 2,500 American citizens each year.
Now, a National Cancer Institute research team, think that they have discovered a way to increase the success of chemotherapy on patients who are suffering from mesothelioma.
The breakthrough is the discovery of an immunotoxin known as SS1P which targets the mesothelioma cancer cells. It can do this as it is looking especially for a protein known as mesothelin, and there is much more of this in the mesothelioma cells.
This is not the first time they have looked at SS1P treatment, but this time it was not tested on its own, but in combination with the standard mesothelioma chemotherapy drugs.
The researched used different levels of the drugs on the patients taking part in the trial and the results showed that there were few side effects and of those patients who received the maximum dose, 77% experienced some reduction in the size of their tumors.
The next stage is for the study to be extended to a larger group of patients with mesothelioma, using the most successful dosing protocol.
