Mesothelioma Diagnosis

One interesting study is called, Malignant mesothelioma of the pleura. A prospective therapeutic study of 132 patients from 1981-1985. By Calavrezos A, Koschel G, Hsselmann H, Taylessani A, Heilmann HP, Fabel H, Schmoll HJ, Dietrich H, Hain E. Klin Wochenschr. 1988 Jul 15;66(14):607-13. Here is an excerpt: Abstract – Between March 1981 and February 1985, 93 out of 132 patients with a histologically confirmed diagnosis of malignant pleural mesothelioma were eligible for therapy and were prospectively assigned to receive either combined therapy or best supportive care, according to their personal preferences. Fifty-seven patients underwent multimodal therapy including surgical resection where possible, polychemotherapy, and radiation therapy in case of partial remission. Thirty-six patients received maximal supportive care only, as did 39 patients who were not eligible for treatment. The median survival was 13 months for treated patients compared to 7 for those receiving best supportive care and 5 for patients not amenable to treatment. Median progress-free survival was 6, 2, and 1 month respectively. Surgical resection did not prolong life expectancy within the treated group. In view of significant differences in the distribution of various cofactors over the two study groups, stepwise Cox model analyses were performed. Prognostic nontreatment variables related to prolonged survival were: good performance status, stage I and II, absence of chest pain, age below 50 years, and epithelial histology. Although in the Cox model analyses the survival improvement of patients being treated could be greatly attributed to other cofactors, multimodal treatment showed some prolongation of life expectancy.

Another interesting study is called, Detection of SV40 sequences in human mesothelioma. By Griffiths DJ, Nicholson AG, Weiss RA. – Institute of Cancer Research, Chester Beatty Laboratories, London, UK. – Dev Biol Stand. 1998;94:127-36. Here is an excerpt: Abstract – The presence of SV40 DNA sequences in British cases of mesothelioma was investigated using previously reported PCR assays. Three different SV40 primer sets were used which gave positive detection rates of 100% (SV.for3/SV.rev), 42% (PYV.for/rev) and 15% (SV.for2/SV.rev). When 26 mesothelioma biopsies were tested. Negative samples included 22 semen samples from AIDS patients, 10 blood donor DNAs and the human mesothelioma cell line H-MESO-1. The problems encountered with these assays and the interpretation of the results are discussed.

Another interesting study is called, Anti-MOC-31: a potential addition to the pulmonary adenocarcinoma versus mesothelioma immunohistochemistry panel. By Sosolik RC, McGaughy VR, De Young BR. – Department of Pathology, Ohio State University Medical Center, Columbus 43210 – Mod Pathol. 1997 Jul;10(7):716-9. Here is an excerpt: Abstract – MOC-31 expression has recently been advocated as an immunohistochemical marker for distinguishing mesothelioma from adenocarcinoma in tissue sections. We studied formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissue from 23 pleural mesotheliomas and 23 primary pulmonary adenocarcinomas for immunoreactivity with anti-MOC-31, a human epithelial-related antigen. All of the 23 adenocarcinomas strongly expressed the marker, whereas only one of the mesotheliomas showed weak reactivity. These results demonstrate the usefulness of anti-MOC-31 in differentiating pulmonary adenocarcinoma from mesothelioma.