Mesothelioma patients may one day live longer thanks to an unlikely ally: the common cold.
Researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania say that a clinical trial using a modified cold virus can help attack mesothelioma tumors. The study was featured in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine. Researchers studied the effects of nine mesothelioma patients who were injected with the adenovirus, a modified version of the common cold.
Mesothelioma is one of the most aggressive and deadliest forms of cancer. It is always found in people who have at some time in their lives came in contact with asbestos. Approximately 3,000 new patients are diagnosed with mesothelioma every year according to the International Mesothelioma Program at Brigham and Women’s Hospital / Harvard Medical School.
In the study, scientists altered the cold virus to contain high levels of interferon-alpha, an immune system stimulant. Interferon-alpha is a protein made by immune cells that boosts the body’s ability to fight off viral infections and some cancers, according to the study.
The nine patients, all with varying degrees of mesothelioma, were injected with the virus into the chest cavity containing the tumor. When the virus began killing the cancer cells, some patients showed signs that their immune systems continued to fight the tumor.
Of the nine who were treated, evidence of stability or tumor regression was seen in five patients. Doctors observed no signs of regression in four patients with advanced stages of mesothelioma.
The study’s author, Dr. Steven M. Albelda, said that the treatment could eventually help patients with early stage malignant mesothelioma. Doctors are continuing to study the technique along with chemotherapy in early stage patients in Pennsylvania. The trial is sponsored by the National Cancer Institute and the Schulze Family Foundation.
For years, asbestos was used as a common building material because of its resistance to fire, heat and water. Those who have worked around asbestos including factory workers, pipefitters, shipbuilders, construction workers and military veterans are more likely to contract the disease. Family members of those who worked with asbestos are also at risk because the fibers could have been carried home on workers’ bodies and clothing.
Some treatments for mesothelioma have been shown to prolong patients’ lives, but there is no known cure. About 10 percent of people with malignant mesothelioma live at least 5 years after diagnosis, according to the American Cancer Society.