Researcher seeks to improve mesothelioma tumour treatment.

Mesothelioma is a cancerous tumour that develops in the lining of the lungs, abdomen, or heart as a result of inhaling asbestos fibres. Shortness of breath and chest discomfort are common symptoms. After being diagnosed with mesothelioma, most patients have a 12-month life expectancy. Surgery, chemotherapy, or radiation may be used to improve the prognosis. The cancer malignant pleural mesothelioma develops in the pleura, the thin tissue that lines the lungs. Asbestosis exposure causes pleural mesothelioma. Pleural mesothelioma accounts for approximately a quarter of all diagnosis. Chest pain, coughing, and pleural effusion are all symptoms of pleural mesothelioma.

Mesothelioma is most commonly treated with a combination of surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation therapy. For many mesothelioma patients, supportive therapy can help reduce symptoms and enhance quality of life.

Tumor Treating Fields, or TTFields, is a new cancer treatment for pleural mesothelioma that has been licenced by the US Food and Drug Administration. It works in conjunction with chemotherapy to slow the progression of cancer and extend life expectancy.

Tumor Treating Fields have previously shown effective for patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma, according to Dr. Maurizio D’Incalci, who hailed the FDA’s approval of the treatment in 2019.

He also understands that the therapy is simply scraping the surface of its enormous potential, and that it may be even more effective. He wants to contribute to its improvement.

D’Incalci, a well-known biomedical science professor at Humanitas University in Milan, has started a study to see if there are any drug combinations that could have a good, synergistic effect with Tumor Treating Fields in the treatment of mesothelioma.

D’Incalci told The Mesothelioma Center at Asbestos.com, “There may be a method to use this instrument more efficiently.” “We want to be able to provide that to patients in the clinic at some point.”

Choosing the Right Treatment Combination
Tumor Treating Fields, or TTFields, is a revolutionary therapy that uses electrical fields tailored to precise frequencies to interrupt cancer cell proliferation. It’s given to you via insulated adhesive pads that stick to your skin.

According to studies, using this range of alternating frequencies can damage particular proteins that are required for cell division. It has been shown to delay or stop the progression of cancer, and it is currently used in conjunction with chemotherapy.

Patients who received TTFields and chemotherapy lived six months longer than those who had only chemotherapy, which is the mainstay of care for the majority of patients, in the phase III clinical trial that led to FDA clearance. At least a partial response was seen in more than 97 percent of the patients.

With TTFields, median survival increased from 12.1 to 18.2 months. D’Incalci wants to see that gap widen even more.

“The purpose of this research is to learn more about what works best for patients,” he explained. “Mesothelioma is a difficult disease to deal with. This one modality [TTFields] is insufficient on its own. However, the correct combination of factors could improve things.”

TTFields and Keytruda together
One Tumor Treating Fields research is now underway, using pembrolizumab, also known as Keytruda, to treat certain forms of lung cancer. The combination will also be investigated in the context of mesothelioma.

Over the last two decades, Novocure has been able to put its therapeutic plan into action thanks to clinical and preclinical research. The medication was first approved by the FDA in 2011 for glioblastoma, a kind of brain cancer.

Other mesothelioma cancer therapies, including as radiation, some chemotherapies, and immunotherapies, have been proven to boost TTFields’ effectiveness in studies.

“We’re planning a lot of studies with a lot of different substances to figure out the optimum way to employ this therapy,” D’Incalci added. “We might attempt some that aren’t even utilised for mesothelioma today.”

TTFields can now be prescribed to patients in nearly 50 cancer hospitals across the United States. Aside from the chemotherapy-related side effects, there have been few.

“We are quite enthusiastic about this opportunity to see which patients will benefit the most and why,” D’Incalci added. “What we discover could make mesothelioma, a cancer for which treatments are now limited, the model for other diseases.”

Reference

Novocure. (2021, July 15). Novocure Announces Recipients of 3rd Annual AACR-Novocure Grants for Tumor Treating Fields Research Program. Retrieved from https://www.novocure.com/novocure-announces-recipients-of-3rd-annual-aacr-novocure-grants-for-tumor-treating-fields-research-program/