Mesothelioma Research may Provide Additional Treatment Option

Research conducted by F. Vandermeers and co-authors has provided insight into a new treatment combination for malignant mesothelioma patients.

According to research published in the journal Clinical Cancer Research, the addition of valproate, a histone deacetylase inhibitor, with the traditional combination of pemetrexed and cisplatin may improve the effectiveness of this more common form of treatment for mesothelioma tumors.

The research was performed because current chemotherapeutic regimens are often ineffective, as mesothelioma tumor cells are typically resistant to treatment. The researchers initially hypothesized that the unresponsiveness of mesothelioma tumors to conventional therapeutic agents might be due to inappropriate gene expression resulting from epigenetic modifications (which are changes in physical gene expression caused by mechanisms other than alterations in DNA sequence).

While evaluating the effect of valproate, the researchers learned that valproate increases apoptosis (natural cell death) induced by pemetrexed and cisplatin in mesothelioma cells. They also realized that valproate efficiently stimulates the production of reactive oxygen species, which are small molecules that include oxygen ions, free radicals and peroxides.

The presence of valproate, either alone or combined with pemetrexed and cisplatin, is enhanced with the processing of a certain protein know as truncated Bid and also when cytochrome c (another protein) is released from mitochondria. This result improves the proapoptotic effectiveness of pemetrexed and cisplatin.

According to F. Vandermeers and other colleagues, the combination of valproate with pemetrexed and cisplatin prevents tumor growth in mouse models of epithelioid mesothelioma.

The researchers also stated that the “observations support the potential additional efficacy of valproate in combination with pemetrexed and cisplatin for treatment of malignant mesothelioma.”

Additional information about mesothelioma may be found through the Mesothelioma Cancer Center.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 10th, 2009 at 2:15 pm and is filed under Mesothelioma, Mesothelioma Treatment. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS feed. Responses are currently closed, but you trackback from your own site.