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(HealthNewsDigest.com) – Cancer can seem hopeless, especially in its later stages, when treatment options are limited. Mesothelioma, caused by exposure to asbestos, is one of the more deadly forms of cancer, taking years to manifest but then spreading rapidly. Traditional mesothelioma therapies are the same as those for other cancers-namely surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation. Yet all of these treatments are far from ideal.
It has been a decades-long dream of cancer researchers and patients to find a cure for cancer. While we’re still a long way from realizing that dream, science is producing exciting new breakthroughs every year. One cutting-edge treatment, known as immunotherapy, focuses on using a cancer patient’s own immune system to help them fight their disease.
Genetically Modified T Cells
T cells are white blood cells that search out and destroy pathogens in the body. Cancer cells, however, are adept at hiding from T cells, which inhibits the immune system’s ability to eliminate cancer from the body.
Scientists today are figuring out how to genetically engineer T cells to enable them to attack cancer cells. They’re doing this by adding receptors to a patient’s T cells that instruct them to target and attack a specific type of tumor.
Modified T cells are a new concept in cancer treatment, although the origins of immunotherapy date back to the 19th century.
In 1890 Dr. William B. Coley at Memorial Hospital (now Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center) in New York observed that cancer patients who developed bacterial infections after surgery had better outcomes than patients who were not infected. Believing that the infection stimulated the immune system and helped to thwart cancer, Coley devised a treatment made from heat-killed bacteria that he injected into cancer patients’ bodies.
So-called “Coley’s toxins” never really caught on in mainstream medicine, but Coley’s insight pioneered the field of immunotherapy. Fast-forward more than 120 years and researchers at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center are using the principles of cancer immunotherapy to treat tumors of the pleural cavity, including mesotheliomas.
A 2014 study led by members of the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center describes how T cells can be modified to recognize mesothelin, a protein found in 90% of mesothelioma tumors. The genetically engineered T cells, in theory, will recognize mesothelioma tumor cells and attack them. This idea is being put to the test in a forthcoming clinical trial for patients with mesothelioma and other pleural malignancies.
T-Cell Therapy Concerns
A study of genetically engineered T cells used to treat leukemia yielded encouraging results that inspired Memorial Sloan Kettering researchers to look at how immunotherapy can be used to treat solid tumors. Already, immunotherapy is being hailed as the “fifth pillar” of cancer treatment along with chemotherapy, radiation, surgery, and targeted cancer therapies. But as immunotherapy moves from science fiction to fact, it’s also worth considering potential drawbacks.
The first is cost. Genetically engineering T cells for individual patients is time and resource intensive. At the present stage, the price of cancer immunotherapy can run into the tens of thousands of dollars per patient. There are also concerns that cancer cells will become immune to the modified T cells or that the new T cells might even harm healthy cells.
These drawbacks notwithstanding, immunotherapy offers hope to many patients who sorely need it. Mesothelioma has a median survival time of 12-21 months, and many patients seek out therapy that merely improves the quality of their remaining life. A cure may still be a long way away, but by participating in clinical trials for immunotherapy and other novel cancer therapies, mesothelioma sufferers can do their part to advance treatment to the next level.
Joseph W. Belluck is a founding partner of Belluck & Fox, a New York law firm that specializes in asbestos litigation. Joe has gathered his experiences into a book called A Patient’s Guide to Mesothelioma that answers common questions and concerns about asbestos-related diseases.
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