Mesothelioma patients rely on their physicians to guide their decisions about the best treatment option for their disease, and physicians use a variety of tools in making the best possible determination for each individual patient. Among the specific elements that physicians look at are the biomarkers found in the patient’s blood and tumor, as these can be indicators of a patient’s long-term prognosis. A recent study led by researchers from the Aichi Medical University School of Medicine in Aichi Japan has revealed that when a specific protein called CD70 is expressed to an unusually high degree, it has a direct association with a poor prognosis.
Study Examined 172 Mesothelioma Tumors
In an effort to include as many different variations of mesothelioma tumor cells as possible, the researchers studied 172 well-characterized mesothelioma tumors, including 145 epithelioid tumors, 15 biphasic tumors and 12 sarcomatoid tumors. They identified the levels of several different proteins known to be associated with anti-tumor immune responses, and found that in patients with high levels of the CD70-CD27 pathway, there was a significant difference in how the patients responded to mesothelioma treatment, as well as in overall survival.
The researchers noted that high levels of CD70 are not just found in aggressive malignant mesothelioma tumors. The same aberrant expression is found in cases of renal cell carcinoma and glioblastoma, which are equally aggressive terminal cancers. The protein’s presence is associated with accelerated tumor cell proliferation and poor clinical outcomes. This, however, is the first time that its effect on mesothelioma tumors has been studied.
Patient Outcomes Show Significant Impact of CD70 on Mesothelioma Tumors
The remarkable impact that the overexpression of CD70 has on the aggressiveness of mesothelioma tumors was seen in the 63 patients who were followed for 120 months in this study. Where the median survival of patients who did not have an overexpression of CD 70 was 18 months, those who did have an overexpression of CD70 survived an average of just 6.5 months. The researchers concluded that the presence of CD70 enhances the malignant potential and poor prognosis of mesothelioma through both enhanced invasiveness and immune evasion.
Having the best treatment available for your particular mesothelioma requires working with physicians who have the most up-to-date research at their fingertips. To be connected to those medical professionals, contact the Patient Advocates at Mesothelioma.net today at 1-800-692-8608
