The Road to a Cure

Japanese researchers working to change that have developed a new blood test. Earlier detection is possible with the Mesomark test, which looks for protein markers that are often tied to cancers. This test may make it possible to stop this disease with surgical procedures in the early stages, and offers hope for a higher success rate.

An early-stage vaccine was recently developed by researchers at the Erasmus Medical Center in the Netherlands that has thus far show fairly promising results. The experimental vaccine utilises dendritic cell immunotherapy, in which the body’s immune system, is trained to target and destroy malignant mesothelioma cells. The vaccine is comprised of a sample of the patient’s own dendritic immune cells that have been introduced to proteins taken from the mesothelioma tumour. Once reintroduced into the body, these cells have a defence mechanism built in to attack the tumour.

While the trials are in their early stages, the hope is that soon, those who may be at risk for mesothelioma (i.e. those exposed to asbestos), may be able to prevent tumour development altogether, or defend and eliminate developing tumours in their early stages. Thus far, the vaccine has been used only in patients diagnosed with malignant pleural mesothelioma.

Mesothelioma doctors and researchers have also examined the steps a long-time mesothelioma cancer survivor, Paul Kraus, has taken to live with this disease for going on 14 years. Although the treatments he partakes in are considered to be outside traditional clinical oncology, they have worked effectively for him to keep the cancer in check. In addition to oxygen treatments, he also eats a nutrient-rich vegetarian diet, many vitamin supplements, and prays and meditates. He has ozone, which is a form of oxygen, injected into his blood, to form an environment where the cancer cells do not thrive. Because oxygen can cause damage to healthy cells, he counters this effect with anti-oxidants in the foods he eats. Anti-oxidants are also supposed to keep cancers at bay.