Wired Magazine has been running a number of cancer-related articles lately and they have recently published a new one, “Top 5 Viable New Cancer Treatments,” in their blog which briefly describes a number of promising cancer treatments that are under investigation.

Wired’s Top 5 Viable New Cancer Treatments

1. Gene Knockdown

   Even though all forms of cancer exhibit their own individual growth patterns, at its most basic level cancer is defined as the uncontrolled division and replication of cells. Traditional cancer treatments, such as chemotherapy, attack cancer by attacking all rapidly dividing cells, but the problem is that the body produces many other cell types that are characterized by rapid division, and chemotherapy destroys them as well. This is the biological reason for most of side effects that are commonly associated with chemotherapy.

   Because of these side effects, new therapies are being developed that target the specific genes and proteins involved with the development of tumors. Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, a biopharm company based in Cambridge, MA, is currently developing a drug (known as ALN-VSP01) that uses siRNA to disrupt cell division and angiogenesis in tumor cells.

2. Viruses

   Because viruses are adept at infiltrating cells and propagating throughout the body they are often agents of considerable harm to humans. However, viruses are not necessarily harmful. Research into the therapeutic use of viruses for the treatment of cancer, as well as other disorders, is one of the most cutting-edge aspects of contemporary medical research. Jennerex Biotherapeutics, a company based in San Francisco, is currently engineering the vaccinia virus to specifically attack multiple types of tumor cells.

3. Small Molecules

   As we said in the “Gene Knockdown” section above, chemotherapy works by indiscriminately killing all rapidly dividing cells, both healthy and malignant. Gene therapies are only one of the ways in which medical science is looking to combat this “kitchen-sink” approach to treatment; another way is the targeting of enzymes and other small molecules involved in the biological production of tumor cells.Johnson and Johnson is investigating a drug called Tipifarnib, which targets an enzyme, farnesyl transferase, previously been implicated in the development of cancer.

4. Vaccines

   Vaccines are also being investigated as agents in the treatment of cancer. This research is proceeding along two major paths:

   1. Developing a vaccine for the actual tumor cells themselves, so the immune system learns how to fight off and remove the malignancy on its own, and
   2. The use of vaccines to prevent the contractoin of viruses than can cause the genetic damage that can lead to cancer.

   The article notes that a number of treatment candidates for the former methodology are currently in Phase III trails, while the most common example of the latter methodology is the drug Gardisil, which prevents women from contracting certain strains of the human papillomavirus, which has been proven to cause cervical cancer.

5. Epigenetic Drugs

   One of the most common findings in the molecular research regarding cancer genesis is the de-activation of what are called tumor suppressor genes (TSRs). TSRs help regulate the normally well-controlled processes of cell division and replication by stopping the growth of malignant tumors. When these genes become deactivated, one of the main bulwarks against cancer is silenced and the body becomes a greater risk for its growth. Epigenetic drugs target these inactive TSRs and attempt to turn them back on. A number of drugs are in use and others are in late development.

Conclusion

The therapies mentioned here are mostly in the experimental stages. Even though much more research will be needed before they become approved for cancer treatments, each of the therapies covered by this Wired article has shown great promise in laboratory studies. It is still too early to say what ,if any, effect these therapies will have on patients with mesothelioma or on the standard mesotheloima treatments, but one can be sure any new advance in cancer therapy is a cause of interest for patients with pleural mesothelioma or peritoneal mesothelioma.

Labels: cancer, mesothelioma