A New Hope for Victims: Breakthrough Mesothelioma Treatments

Researchers in Great Britain believe that EZH2 inhibitors, when combined with certain other drugs, can shrink mesothelioma tumors.

The study demonstrated the efficacy of the combination of ATM and EZH2 inhibition against BAP1-deficient mesothelioma in preclinical models, indicating the potential of this combination as a novel treatment modality using BAP1 as a biomarker.

Asbestos exposure is the substantial cause of about 80 percent of mesothelioma cases. This form of lung cancer is usually hard to diagnose and treat.

Lung cancers, like mesothelioma, frequently involve genetic or lifestyle factors. For example, people with a family history of lung cancer are more likely to contract this disease, as are smokers. But for the most part, such things are contributing causes.

The dispute over slavery substantially caused the Civil War, although there were important contributing causes as well.

To establish the “substantial cause” requirement in an asbestos exposure matter, an asbestos exposure lawyer often partners with a board-certified environmental oncologist or another highly-qualified expert.

Pleural mesothelioma (lung cancer) is very rare and therefore very hard to diagnose. Complicating matters, most of these victims have no large lifestyle or genetic red flags, as mentioned above. So, when they develop early lung cancer physical symptoms, such as coughing and chest tightness, doctors often assume something else is responsible, such as asthma or COPD.

If the doctor orders a test, the doctor usually looks for spots on the lung that point to NSCLC (non-small cell lung cancer), a far more common kind of lung cancer. Doctors do not look for spots in the mesothelium (the membrane that surrounds the lungs).

Because of the delayed diagnosis, the mesothelioma tumor grows and the cancer spreads. At that point, most radiation/chemotherapy/surgery options are unavailable. Instead, doctors must look to advanced options. More on that below.

The bottom line is that mesothelioma’s five-year survival rate is under 10%. Furthermore, since mesothelioma is a particularly painful kind of cancer, the victim’s last years are typically very bad years.

Toxic fibers mutate cells. So, it stands to reason that they can be mutated in favorable ways as well. That’s the central idea behind CRISPR (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats) therapy. The two scientists who largely developed the technique shared the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 2020.

In 2023, the first drug making use of CRISPR gene editing, Casgevy, was approved for use in the United Kingdom to cure sickle-cell disease and beta-thalassemia. The FDA approved Casgevy in December 2023.

This technique is still developing. Further improvements and variants of the CRISPR-Cas9 system have focused on introducing more control into its use. Specifically, the research aimed at improving this system includes improving its specificity, its efficiency, and the granularity of its editing power. Techniques can further be divided and classified by the component of the system they modify. These include using different variants or novel creations of the Cas protein, using an altogether different effector protein, modifying the sgRNA, or using an algorithmic approach to identify existing optimal solutions.

This technique is also very expensive. Casgevy and other related drugs can cost up to $2 million per treatment. That expense underscores the need for an asbestos exposure lawyer to obtain as much financial compensation as possible in these cases.

Mesothelioma victims need and deserve significant compensation. For a free consultation with an experienced nationwide mesothelioma lawyer, contact the Throneberry Law Group. We do not charge upfront legal fees in these matters.