Study Finds Asbestos-Related Cancers Are Unaffected By New Chemotherapies

A recent study conducted by researchers in the UK and Australia found that when physicians used experimental chemotherapies to combat asbestos-caused malignant disease, the results were disappointing. The study, MS01, was focused mainly on patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM), an aggressive form of asbestos-caused lung cancer for which there is no cure.

The disease is found only in individuals who at some point in their life were exposed to asbestos. After inhaling the microscopic and airborne asbestos fibers, they become imbedded into the soft tissues of the lungs and are virtually impossible to remove. These fibers can remain dormant and undetected for 20 to 50 years before causing mesothelioma or another respiratory disease.

Asbestos exposure can also result in other diseases such as other lung cancers and asbestosis, which causes scarring of the lungs and greatly reduced lung function.  For those that suffer from MPM, Active Symptom Control (ASC) treatments are used to improve quality of life and include steroids, painkillers, bronchodilators and palliative radiotherapies. None of these offer a cure.

In the study, reported in the medical journal Lancet, three groups were tested using various treatments. The first group’s ASC treatments were exchanged with four cycles of mitomycin, vinblastine, and cisplatin every three weeks. The second group, received their normal ASC treatments and a once a week injection of vinorelbine for 12 weeks. The final group received only their ACS treatments.

During analysis, around 96 percent of the 409 MPM patients in the three study groups had died from their disease. Those that received the additional chemotherapies had a slight advantage over those who received only ASC treatments. However, it was determined to be statistically insignificant and proves greater research is needed to help treat asbestos-related diseases.