Nonstandard Treatment

Medical researchers are testing innovative ways to combat cancer. Photodynamic therapy, gene therapy, and immunotherapy are three nonstandard treatment options that have not yet entered the mainstream, but which hold great promise for improved treatment of mesothelioma.

One of the most promising new treatments to emerge from outside-the-box thinking is photodynamic therapy. This works by giving the patient a photosensitizing drug that is preferentially retained by cancer cells. The drug is then activated by exposing it to a specific wavelength of light in the presence of oxygen, at which point it becomes toxic and kills the cancer cells. Photodynamic therapy has been tried since the 1970s, but with little success due to crippling side effects. New technology, however, has recently brought this problem under control. New drugs have less harmful side effects and can be triggered by higher wavelengths of light, which allows them to be activated from deeper within the body. New laser technology provides greater accuracy and flexibility in delivering the light. Photodynamic therapy has been approved to treat certain types of cancer, but research into its efficacy against mesothelioma is ongoing.

Gene therapy works by turning the tables on cancer and infecting the tumor itself with a virus. The virus inserts a suicide gene into the cancer cells that makes them susceptible to a drug that would not ordinarily harm them. The application of this drug then destroys the tumor.

Immunotherapy works by stimulating the patient’s immune system to fight cancer naturally. The immune system has trouble recognizing tumors because cancer cells are essentially the patient’s own cells that are dividing without regulatory control, and the function of the immune system is to react to foreign threats, not domestic ones. Immunotherapy works by stimulating the immune system to produce antibodies that are capable of recognizing, binding to, and destroying cancer cells.

The efficacy of these new treatments is not yet known, but clinical trials are under way, and early results are promising.

See also: The Importance of Psychological Care for Cancer Patients

Did you know: Scientists are developing new methods of attacking cancer. Because mesothelioma is a rare form of cancer and does not respond well to conventional treatments, the FDA allows pharmaceutical companies to try new compounds on mesothelioma patients.

Fact: In the past two years, about 5000 Americans have been diagnosed with mesothelioma.