“Mesothelioma is known as a traditionally under-funded and under-studied cancer.”
That’s the answer customarily given to patients, their families, and the public at large when they ask about the very slow advances that were so typical of mesothelioma. Until now.
And while technically that is still true, especially when compared to other cancers, some changes are becoming very visible.
This week, at the World Conference on Lung Cancer (a conference organized by the International Association on Lung Cancer, which hosts a full track dedicated to mesothelioma) mesothelioma is drawing considerably more interest than usual.
Today’s topics of discussion included an overview of scientific highlights (which was chock full of new drugs currently being tested in clinical trials); novel targets and biomarkers (a very technical session focused on the molecular aspects of mesothelioma treatment); and novel therapies (a session so full of information and people that it was standing-room only for those arriving late – picture included).
“I am no longer able to just take a leisurely walk through the halls of the IASLC conference without getting stopped or stopping someone from within the field,” said Mary Hesdorffer, nurse practitioner and the executive director of the Mesothelioma Applied Research Foundation.
“Mesothelioma is not an after-thought anymore but a focus of interest in its own right,” she added.
Below, we’ve included some tweets from today. For more Twitter updates, please following www.twitter.com/curemeso.org
Presentation by Dr Raffit Hassan: first immunotoxin drug against mesothelin developed at NCI in 1998 #mesothelioma #WCLC2016 @IASLC
— Meso Foundation (@curemeso) December 5, 2016
[part1] 6 clinical trials in progress targeting mesothelin in #mesothelioma. @IASLC #WCLC2016
— Meso Foundation (@curemeso) December 5, 2016
[part 2] May have broad activity in cancer as other cancers express this protein including lung and pancreatic cancer @IASLC #WCLC2016
— Meso Foundation (@curemeso) December 5, 2016
Prof Nakano and I chaired this session, 4 great speakers – nice to see standing room only sometimes for a #mesothelioma session! https://t.co/izxcwgLZXt
— Anna Nowak (@perth_meso_dr) December 5, 2016
