A recently published study of cancer drug toxicity may prove beneficial to patients being treated for malignant mesothelioma. Patients diagnosed with the rare asbestos-related disease have responded well to a variety of immunotherapy treatments, but serious adverse effects have forced many patients to discontinue treatment. UK researchers have discovered what causes these effects and have arrived at a solution.
Malignant Mesothelioma and Other Solid Tumors Respond Well to Immunotherapy
Malignant mesothelioma forms solid and aggressive tumors. It is always considered fatal, but in recent years patients have seen extended survival times following treatment with immunotherapy. Unfortunately, some of these treatment protocols have led to adverse effects that have forced patients to stop treatment. Researchers from the La Jolla Institute for Immunology and the University of Liverpool set out to investigate the cause of these toxic reactions.
Though their study was conducted on patient with head and neck cancers, their findings may be more widely applied to patients with other solid tumors including malignant mesothelioma. In their research they found that 12 of 21 patients given a specific oral cancer immunotherapy developed inflammation in the colon. To determine why, they used single-cell genomic sequencing.
Results May Prove Helpful for Properly Dosing immunotherapy in Mesothelioma Patients
The researchers found that the immunotherapy that they’d used had successfully increased tumor-fighting T cells within the tumors, but that at the same time it had blocked a regulatory cell that protects the colon. This allowed inflammation to set in. They concluded that the dose of immunotherapy had been larger than was needed and had subsequently disrupted the normal balance in the patients’ intestines.
Further testing showed that by sequencing the immunotherapy dosing differently they could eliminate the adverse effect, thus offering mesothelioma patients greater confidence in using the innovative treatment protocol.
If you or someone you love has been diagnosed with malignant mesothelioma, state-of-the-art treatments are available. For information, contact the Patient Advocates at Mesothelioma.net today at 1-800-692-8608.
