JULY 28, 2016 .
PATRICIA INACIO, PHD IN NEWS.
Results suggest that a lurbinectedin drug combination could be a potential new therapy for mesothelioma patients who fail to respond to current therapies.
“This study should be of interest to mesothelioma patients and families because we know that, unfortunately, many of them will eventually be looking for a second-line mesothelioma treatment,” said Alex Strauss, of Surviving Mesothelioma.
PM01183 podría ser la Opción para el Tratamiento de segunda línea Efectiva para los Pacientes con Mesotelioma Pleural Maligno .
La Mayoría de las Personas que están diagnosticados con Mesotelioma son tratados con una combinación de Quimioterapia que incluye Pemetrexed (Alimta) y el fármaco a base de platino Cisplatino .Pero, a pesar de que la Combinación con Pemetrexed / Cisplatino es Moderadamente Eficaz y dicha combinación representa la Opción Stándar en el tratamiento del cáncer de Mesothelioma ... muchos pacientes con mesotelioma pleural , se encuentran con que sus tumores o bien continuarán creciendo durante la quimioterapia o comenzarán a crecer de nuevo cuando termina el tratamiento .
¿Hay Opción de una una segunda línea de tratamiento del mesotelioma?
En este momento, No Existe un Stándar de tratamiento de segunda línea para el mesotelioma pleural maligno.
Sin embargo, un Equipo de Investigadores Suizos Comunican que han desarrollado una nueva combinación de fármacos que pueden ofrecer una esperanza para las personas con mesotelioma pleural progresiva .
La Combinación Incluye Cisplatin y PM01183 ( Lurbinectedin ) .
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by Alex Strauss+ .
A new drug based on a compound derived from sea creatures may make an effective second-line treatment for patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma.
Most people who are diagnosed with mesothelioma will be treated with a chemotherapy combination that includes pemetrexed (Alimta) and the platinum-based drug cisplatin.
But, although pemetrexed/cisplatin is the gold standard for treating the asbestos cancer, it is only moderately effective. For many pleural mesothelioma patients, their tumors will either continue to grow during chemotherapy or will start growing again when the treatment is over.
A Second-Line Mesothelioma Treatment Option?
Right now, there is no standard second-line treatment for malignant pleural mesothelioma. But a team of Swiss researchers say they have developed a new drug combination that may offer hope for people with progressive pleural mesothelioma.
The combination includes cisplatin and lurbinectedin, a semi-synthetic analog of a marine-derived compound. An analog is a drug that is chemically similar to the original drug and is designed to mimic its pharmacological effects.
Lurbinectedin is an analog of trabectedin, which is derived from the Caribbean sea squirt and has been approved in Europe and Japan for the treatment of ovarian cancer.
Putting Lurbinectedin to Work Against Mesothelioma
Lurbinectedin has not yet been subjected to clinical trials for mesothelioma, but the Swiss researchers, writing in the journal Lung Cancer, say they have had good luck using the drug in two cases of advanced mesothelioma.
“The combination showed promising activity in both cases with manageable toxicity,” writes Yannis Metaxas, a researcher in the Department of Oncology at Kantonsspital Graubunden, a hospital in Chur, Switzerland.
A Japanese study published by PLoS One in March found that lurbinectedin exhibited “significant antitumor activity” in a particular type of chemoresistant ovarian cancer both when used as a single agent and in combination with another drug. Because pleural mesothelioma is often chemoresistant, researchers are hopeful about the possibilities for lurbinectedin.
As with the mesothelioma cases that are the focus of the current study, many of the ovarian cancer patients treated with lurbinectedin did experience side effects including a severe drop in white blood cell counts (neutropenia), but the problem was reversible.
Sources:
Metaxas, Y, et al, “Combination of cisplatin and lurbinectedin as palliative chemotherapy in progressive malignant pleural mesothelioma: Report of two cases”, July 14, 2016, Lung Cancer, Epub ahead of print
Takahashi, R, et al, “Preclinical investigation of PM01183 (lurbinectedin) as a single agent or in combination with other anticancer agents for clear cell carcinoma of the ovary”, March 2016, PLoS One
Takahashi, R, et al, “Preclinical investigation of PM01183 (lurbinectedin) as a single agent or in combination with other anticancer agents for clear cell carcinoma of the ovary”, March 2016, PLoS One