Are there new, experimental treatments being investigated to treat mesothelioma?
There are many different treatments being looked at for mesothelioma, in addition to combinations of existing chemotherapeutic agents, known surgical treatments and additional radiation.
One new type of treatment is looking very promising, which is bathing the area of the mesothelioma with warm chemotherapy agents during or after surgery. This was first done with peritoneal mesothelioma, and has shown some success. It is now being done with pleural mesothelioma.
Researchers are trying to find a way to deliver radiation therapy to mesothelioma tumors that might be more effective than what they are using now.
There are also new types of chemotherapy drugs. Photodynamic therapy, in which something to sensitize the tumor to light is given to the patient, and then the tumor is exposed to a certain spectrum of light, has been tried.
To date, PDT has not been very successful.
Gene therapy involves using a special virus to infect the cancer cells. The virus then injects a gene into the cells which may stimulate the patient’s own immune system to attack the cancer. This type of therapy is being tested for mesothelioma treatment.
Other ways to stimulate the immune system are being studied.
Chemotherapeutic agents are being made that specifically target areas of mesothelioma growth. Some agents that target an area on the outside of the cell have not been useful, whereas others that target the new blood vessels the tumor needs to grow are also being studied. Many more agents are being studied that are targeted specifically at a part of the mesothelioma cell or proteins it produces.
As time goes on, there will be more new ways to treat mesothelioma being invented and evaluated.