Drug offers ‘wonderful’ breakthrough in the treatment of asbestos-related cancer
Scientists have developed a drug to treat mesothelioma, a notoriously difficult-to-treat cancer linked to asbestos. This is the biggest breakthrough in twenty years.
Thousands of people worldwide are diagnosed with the disease every year. This disease usually develops in the lungs and is mainly caused by exposure to asbestos at work. It is aggressive and deadly, and has one of the worst cancer survival rates in the world.
Now scientists are welcoming the “truly miraculous” arrival of a new therapy, which they say should offer new hope to people with the disease and their families.
In an international study in five countries led by Queen Mary University of London, a new drug that cuts off the tumor’s food supply quadrupled three-year survival rates. The results were published in the journal JAMA Oncology.
“This trial has changed the lives of people with mesothelioma, allowing us to live longer,” said one of the patients who benefited from the drug. The 80-year-old, who wished to remain anonymous, received compensation from his former employer after being exposed to asbestos in a factory in the 1970s.
He was given four months to live, but thanks to the trial, he is still alive five years later. “I now have five grandchildren and two great-grandchildren – I wouldn’t want to miss any of that,” he said.
The breakthrough is significant, experts say, because mesothelioma has one of the lowest survival rates of all cancers. The new drug, ADI-PEG20 (pegargiminase), is the first of its kind to be successfully combined with chemotherapy in twenty years.
The trial involved patients from Britain, the US, Australia, Italy and Taiwan, and was led by Prof. Peter Szlosarek from Queen Mary. Each received chemotherapy every three weeks for up to six cycles. Half also received injections of a new drug, while the other half received a placebo for two years.
The patients included in the final analysis included 249 people with pleural mesothelioma – where the disease affects the lining of the lungs. They had an average age of 70 years.
The study, known as the ATOMIC-meso study, was conducted between 2017 and 2021 at 43 centers in the five countries. Those who received pegargiminase and chemotherapy survived an average of 9.3 months, compared to 7.7 months for those who received the placebo and chemotherapy. chemotherapy, according to results published in JAMA Oncology.
The average “progression-free survival” was 6.2 months with chemotherapy with pegargiminase, compared with 5.6 months in patients who received placebo and chemotherapy.
“In this pivotal, randomized, placebo-controlled phase 3 study in 249 patients with pleural mesothelioma, pegargiminase chemotherapy significantly increased median overall survival by 1.6 months and quadrupled survival at 36 months compared with placebo chemotherapy,” authors wrote.
“Pegargiminase-based chemotherapy was well tolerated and there were no new safety signals.”
The breakthrough follows twenty years of work by Szlosarek, following his original discovery that mesothelioma cells lack the protein ASS1, which enables cells to produce the amino acid arginine.
This knowledge was used to develop the drug. ADI-PEG20 works by depleting arginine levels in the bloodstream. For tumor cells that cannot produce their own arginine, this means that their growth is stunted.
“It’s really great to see that research into arginine starvation of cancer cells is paying off,” Szlosarek said. “This discovery is something I have been working on from the earliest stages in the laboratory, with a new treatment, ADI-PEG20, now improving the lives of patients affected by mesothelioma.”
Dr. Tayyaba Jiwani of Cancer Research UK, which funded the research together with biotechnology company Polaris Group, said: “This study demonstrates the power of discovery research, allowing us to dig deep into the biology of mesothelioma to uncover vulnerabilities we are now focusing on. can aim. with ADI-PEG20.â€
Liz Darlison, chief executive of the charity Mesothelioma UK, said: “The UK mesothelioma community, including doctors, nurses, patients and families living with mesothelioma, is extremely proud of ATOMIC. It offers another much-needed treatment option and, most importantly, hope for people with mesothelioma.
“We look forward to seeing this treatment become available as a standard option for all patients in the future.”