New Mesothelioma Research Points to Promising New Therapeutic Option, According to Surviving Mesothelioma

A newly published report suggests that a drug approved to treat advanced sarcoma and ovarian cancer may offer a new way to combat malignant mesothelioma, too.

Raleigh, NC (PRWEB) August 14, 2016

Italian researchers are calling the drug trabectedin "promising" as a potential new mesothelioma treatment after it successfully killed cells from six different mesothelioma cell lines. Surviving Mesothelioma has just posted an article on the new research. Click here to read it now.

Scientists from the University of Vienna tested trabectedin on both malignant and healthy cells in the laboratory as well as on mesothelioma tumors removed from infected mice.

"Trabectedin exerted a dose-dependent cytotoxic effect in all malignant pleural mesothelioma cell cultures in vitro…," writes study author Mir Alireza Hoda. "Non-malignant mesothelial cells were significantly less responsive."

The study, published in the journal Molecular Cancer Therapy found that trabectedin was even more effective at combating mesothelioma when it was administered along with drugs that affect apoptosis (cell death) or with the chemotherapy drug cisplatin.

"There are so few therapeutic options for malignant mesothelioma that news of an FDA-approved drug that appears to make a real difference is potentially very exciting," says Alex Strauss, Managing Editor of Surviving Mesothelioma. "This is one we will continue to monitor closely as it moves toward mesothelioma clinical trials."

To read more about trabectedin and its potential impact on mesothelioma survival, see Study Reveals "Promising" New Mesothelioma Therapy, now available on the Surviving Mesothelioma website.

Hoda, MA, et al, "Trabectedin is active against malignant pleural mesothelioma cell and xenograft models and synergizes with chemotherapy and bcl-2 inhibition in vitro", August 10, 2016, Molecular Cancer Therapeutics, Epub ahead of print, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27512118

For the original version on PRWeb visit: http://www.prweb.com/releases/2016/08/prweb13614629.htm