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Mesothelioma Patients to Participate in Experimental Drug Study at UT

The M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, located at the University of Texas in Houston, announced the launch of the first phase of an experimental drug study on pleural mesothelioma. Both men and women in the age group of 18 years and more, who are suffering from the deadly disease, will form the study group that will comprise a team of 24 patients.

The experiment is the result of collaboration with the pharmaceutical company Bristol-Myers Squibb and the U.S. Department of Defense. The clinical trial will study the drug dasatinib and establish the level of biomarker modulation caused in patients who are administered this medicine. Parameters of study include the patients’ toxicity level and tumor response; how the drug contributes to patients’ overall survival and disease progression will also be evaluated. Data collection is expected to be complete by March 2011.

The study is headed by Dr. Anne Tsao, an associate professor of medical oncology at the university and the principal investigator on the project. Tsao is well known in the field of thoracic, head, and neck oncology as a specialist in malignant mesothelioma cancer.

Pleural mesothelioma, caused by previous exposure to asbestos, forms the largest group of the 3,000 cases reported each year in the U.S. This highly aggressive disease involves cancer of the membrane that covers the lungs and lining of the chest cavity and is presently without a cure. The M.D. Anderson Cancer Center is among the leading cancer centers for the study of pleural mesothelioma.