An innovative treatment has quadrupled the three-year survival rate for mesothelioma, a rare but almost always fatal cancer. Results of testing a new treatment are published in the journal JAMA Oncology.
The study included 249 patients with mesothelioma, a cancer of the connective tissue that covers the internal organs. The effect of the drug ADI-PEG20 was compared with the effect of conventional chemotherapy. The new treatment improved median survival by 1.6 months and three-year survival by fourfold. This means four times as many patients were alive at 36 months as patients in the usual care group.
Once diagnosed with mesothelioma, only 5-10% of patients survive five years or more. The new drug could be the first effective treatment developed for mesothelioma in 20 years.
The effect of the drug is to reduce the level of arginine in the bloodstream. This amino acid is essential for the survival of mesothelioma cells that cannot produce arginine. Research has shown that some types of brain cancer also cannot survive in the absence of arginine, meaning a new drug could be effective against them.
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Source: Gazeta
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