Researchers Discover New Mesothelioma Blood Biomarker

An international team of scientists recently identified a new blood biomarker for mesothelioma that should help with early diagnosis, prognosis accuracy and the personalization of treatment. Researchers identified activin A, a protein complex found in the blood, as a potential target for future therapies. “Blood derived biomarkers are important because they can be noninvasively measured, even at multiple stages,” Dr. Balazs Hegedus, at the Medical University of Vienna in Austria, told Asbestos.com. “They can help make the best personalized therapeutic decisions.” In addition to Hegedus, cancer specialists from Hungary, Switzerland and Australia participated in the study published in the latest issue of European Journal of Cancer. They measured the activin A levels of 129 patients in four locations, 16 patients with nonmalignant pleural diseases and 45 healthy people for a comparison. Researchers found significantly higher activin A levels in patients with mesothelioma and increased tumor volume correlated directly with the higher levels of the circulating protein. They also discovered patients with lower levels of activin A at diagnosis lived significantly longer. Activin A Helps with Histology The patients with nonmalignant diseases had only a slight increase in activin A, which also helped determine the histological classification of mesothelioma. Those with sarcomatoid and biphasic mesothelioma — the two toughest types to treat — had significantly higher levels...
Source: Asbestos and Mesothelioma News - Category: Environmental Health Authors: Tags: activin A asbestos cancer asbestos diseases Balazs Hegedus cancer treatment mesothelioma mesothelioma biomarker mesothelioma blood biomarker mesothelioma research multimodal cancer therapy treatments for mesothelioma Source Type: news