Mesothelioma Gene Therapy

Each human body functions as per its unique genetic code. Formerly believed to be immutable, it is now known that environmental conditions including smoking, exposure to sunlight and toxic chemicals, and the food we eat, can affect DNA and cause changes in the genetic code. Faulty genes lead to faulty functioning of growing cells and seriously affect health. Malignant mesothelioma stems from an environmental factor; that is, exposure to asbestos. Growing knowledge about genes has led to an attempt to view mesothelioma in this light and try to correct the genes that create the propensity in the body to become cancerous.

In simple terms, mesothelioma gene therapy tries to understand why certain cells are resilient to this type of cancer, while others are susceptible to it. The predisposition of some cells to turn cancerous when exposed to a particular environment like asbestos is written in the person’s genetic code. With this background, some methods are being adopted to bring change in the genetic code itself. For instance, a kind of “healthy virus” may be introduced into the body of a mesothelioma patient; this virus attacks “bad cells” and mutates their genetic structure.

Like mesothelioma immunotherapy, this new approach is being tested in clinical trials for the benefit of mesothelioma victims. Some alternative approaches in use include the following:

• 1. One form of gene therapy aims at introducing those genes in the body that hamper the proliferation of blood vessels that make the tumor grow. An anti-angiogenesis medication kills the cancerous cells by starving them.
• 2. Another form of gene therapy tries to replace the faulty gene that causes cancer cells to grow by rapid multiplication. The newly introduced gene is a normal gene that regulates cell growth and division. This also has the effect of slowing the growth of tumors or halting the growth altogether.
• 3. Developing cells that will act as replacements cells for the genes present in cancer cells is a third approach to gene therapy in this domain. These cells work like suicide cells that die on coming in contact with cancerous growths.

As a new form of treating mesothelioma, gene therapy holds great promise. Extensive research and clinical trials  are being conducted to assess risks and results for fighting a "multifactorial" disease like mesothelioma that most often needs multi-faceted treatment. It is hoped that gene therapy will form the fourth front in the current trimodal approach being currently followed to battle cancer.