Mengenal Ikan Arapaima, Hewan Raksasa yang Muncul di Sungai Brantas

Most people who are diagnosed with malignant mesothelioma, whether it’s the pleural or the peritoneal variety, will undergo treatment with chemotherapy at some point. Unfortunately, by the time chemotherapy is administered, mesothelioma is often so advanced that the drugs have only a limited effect. In fact, most studies of chemotherapy for mesothelioma suggest that it probably only extends mesothelioma survival by a few months. But a new study suggests that it may eventually be possible to use drugs as a way to prevent mesothelioma in people who are at risk for developing it because of asbestos exposure. Mesothelioma and Inflammation As with many types of cancer, the physiological processes behind the development of malignant mesothelioma are complex and not fully understood. One thing that is understood about mesothelioma development is that it is caused, in part, by an inflammatory response to asbestos fibers. The long thin shape of microscopic asbestos fibers causes them to stick in membranous tissue. The immune system responds to this kind of “extracellular insult” by recruiting inflammatory cells to deal with the injury or stress. The Role of Inflammation in Tumor Development But researchers at the University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine and the Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia say this inflammatory response to asbestos may actually help give rise to mesothelioma tumors and cause them to grow faster. To test their theory, they removed an important inflammatory signaling protein from a subset of mice exposed to asbestos so that these mice would not release the typical inflammation fighters. Although they still developed mesothelioma, their tumors took much longer to develop and grow than those of their normal littermates. Preventing Mesothelioma For now, the idea of giving certain drugs to asbestos-exposed individuals as a way to prevent mesothelioma is just a theory. But if future studies can prove that the theory is right, it may eventually be possible to stop mesothelioma before it starts by targeting the inflammatory response with drugs. “The findings provide rationale for chemoprevention strategies targeting IL-1β/IL-1R signaling in high risk, asbestos-exposed populations.,” states study author and cell biologist Yuwaraj Kadariya, MD, PhD, of the Cancer Biology Program at Fox Chase. Because there is currently no way to prevent the development of mesothelioma, people who have been exposed to asbestos should visit the doctor regularly and be aware of mesothelioma symptoms such as coughing, fatigue, and chest pain. Source: Kadariya, Y, et al, “Inflammation-Related IL-1β/IL-1R Signaling Promotes the Development of Asbestos-Induced Malignant Mesothelioma”, March 2, 2016, Cancer Prevention and Research, Epub ahead of print

Malignant pleural mesothelioma is usually thought of as an asbestos-related disease. But a growing number of mesothelioma cases are being blamed on another mineral called erionite. A new report attempts to look at the clinical and prognostic differences between mesothelioma caused by erionite and mesothelioma caused by asbestos. Like asbestos, erionite occurs naturally in some soils and is made up of tiny, sharp fibers. Like asbestos, once these fibers enter the lungs through inhalation of dust, or the stomach through accidental ingestion, they can trigger a series of physiological changes in some people that eventually result in cancer. The Study In light of the rising number of erionite-induced mesothelioma cases in Europe and North America, researchers in Turkey, Ohio, and Florida designed a study to look for any key differences in the way erionite-induced pleural mesothelioma behaves and should be diagnosed and treated. The researchers analyzed data from 33 mesothelioma studies, including 22 retrospective studies (looking back at past data), 6 prospective studies, and 5 case reports. To ensure that they were only focusing on erionite-related mesothelioma and not the much more common asbestos-induced mesothelioma, the study only included mesothelioma patients who were never exposed to asbestos. In all, 31,042 mesothelioma patients were included. The findings on erionite-induced mesothelioma are not encouraging. According to the data, erionite may be even more toxic in the lungs than asbestos and may be more likely to cause mesothelioma in multiple family members. “Erionite has a higher degree of carcinogenicity with possible genetic transmission of erionite susceptibility in an autosomal dominant fashion,” writes author Elamin Elamin, MD of the University of South Florida’s Critical Care Medicine and Sleep Department. The results also suggest that it does not always take a lot of erionite to trigger mesothelioma. While most cases of erionite-induced mesothelioma occurred after high levels of exposure, some cases occurred with much less. The research team found that Chest CT was a more reliable diagnostic tool than chest X-ray and that pleural effusion, a build-up of fluid in the lungs, was the most common finding. Chemotherapy with cisplatin and mitomycin was shown to be the most common drug treatment for erionite-related mesothelioma, but the authors note that, as with asbestos mesothelioma, “cure of the disease is extremely rare.” In parts of Turkey, where rock containing erionite was used to construct houses, there are record numbers of mesothelioma cases. Erionite has also been found in gravel used to pave thousands of miles of roads in North Dakota. Source: Demirer, E, “Clinical and Prognostic Features of Erionite-Induced Malignant Mesothelioma”, March 1, 2015, Yonsei Medical Journal, pp. 311-323.