Study: Mesothelioma Patients with CD70 Protein Have Worse Prognosis

An international team of pathologists has identified a new protein often found on pleural mesothelioma tumor cells. The discovery could lead to a more accurate prognosis for patients and future treatment advances. Researchers found for the first time that mesothelioma patients expressing higher levels of the CD70 protein typically experience a much shorter survival, regardless of cell type or treatment type. “These markers might be useful for MPM [malignant pleural mesothelioma] prognostic evaluations, as well as targeted therapeutics,” the study authors wrote. “Further analyses in syngeneic mouse models demonstrated possible roles for CD70 in immune evasion.” The Journal of Pathology published the study in December 2019. Researchers at the Aichi Medical University School of Medicine in Nagakute, Japan, led the study. Doctors from Poland, Germany and the United States, including those at the National Cancer Institute, also contributed. Higher Expression Means Shorter Survival Researchers found that 20% of the mesothelioma tumor cell samples expressed high levels of CD70. Those patients with the elevated CD70 expression had a median survival of just 6.5 months, compared to 18 months for those who did not overexpress CD70. The protein involvement may help explain the significant differences in survival times, and how patients respond differently to the same treatments. The issues have puzzled mesothelioma specialists for years. An overexpression of CD70 previously ha...
Source: Asbestos and Mesothelioma News - Category: Environmental Health Authors: Source Type: news