Every day, researchers around the world are working to develop new medications for the treatment of malignant mesothelioma, but many are abandoned due to disappointing results in the laboratory. Now researchers from the Indiana University School of Medicine are suggesting that cancer drugs may be being eliminated too soon as a result of improper exposure to oxygen.
Drugs for Mesothelioma and Other Cancers Go Through Rigorous Laboratory Testing
The process of creating a drug to treat malignant mesothelioma is long and arduous. Drugs to treat all types of cancers go through multiple tests before they are ready for animal or human testing, and many that are thought to be promising are discarded long before that point. The Indiana researchers have determined that failure to consider appropriate oxygen levels may be leading to improper conclusions about effectiveness
Testing of mesothelioma drugs is generally conducted in laboratories, evaluating their impact on tumor cells that have been collected from patients. These samples are handled and exposed to room oxygen levels, which are typically about 21 percent. But mesothelioma cells within the body, where the medication would eventually need to work, are only exposed to oxygen levels of roughly five percent. The difference between the two oxygen levels may significantly impact a drug’s effectiveness.
Test Reveals Impact of Oxygen Levels on Different Drugs’ Performance
The researchers’ work may have a profound impact on future decisions about the effectiveness of mesothelioma drugs, as they found that when tumors were split in half and medications tested on them at both room levels of oxygen and internal body levels of oxygen, the cells’ sensitivity levels were significantly different.
Speaking of their findings, senior author Harikrishna Nakshatri, PhD said, “Oxygen can have a different effect on the function of different proteins in the tumors. They may get activated, lose their activity level, get degraded or get stabilized.” He went on to pose several questions, including, “Why do the cells react differently? Are we screening the drugs against cancer cells the right way? If we screen for drugs at the physiologic oxygen level, are we going to find different drugs that we may have missed all these years by doing the experiments at 21% oxygen?” He suggests that adjusting oxygen levels may increase the chances of a drug being successful, or reveal hidden ineffectiveness early.
Studies like these can go a long way towards finding a cure for malignant mesothelioma. If you have mesothelioma and need information on the resources available to you, contact the Patient Advocates at Mesothelioma.net today at 1-800-692-8608.
