New treatment gives hope to asbestos cancer patients

Patients with tumors caused by asbestos can live longer and with less pain thanks to an innovative treatment that slows the growth of tumors. Currently, only seven percent of those with the disease, called mesothelioma, survive more than five years after diagnosis.

But the results of a new study show that a new drug, abemaciclib, can extend the lives of people with the more aggressive form of the disease by months or even years.

Professor Dean Fennell, who led the study at the University of Leicester, said: “Mesothelioma is a bad cancer and there is no effective treatment. Many patients are without options.

The results of a new study show that a new drug, abemaciclib, can extend the lives of people with the most aggressive form of the disease by months or even years.

“But this new treatment shows promise in halting progression and, in some cases, reversing the growth of cancer in patients who don’t respond to chemotherapy or immunotherapy.” This can add precious months to their lives and enable them to live without a lot of pain.”

More than 2,600 people a year are diagnosed with mesothelioma in the UK. Most are between the ages of 60 and 80, and men are more affected than women because it is mainly caused by asbestos, the insulation once used in floors and roofs. Men working in the construction industry were the most exposed.

Asbestos insulation won’t hurt if it’s intact. But when broken, microscopic fibers are released into the air. These enter the lungs where they cause scarring that turns into cancer. The tumors are located in the membrane surrounding the lungs – the pleura – abdomen and testicles, although it is not known how they spread.

Asbestos was discontinued in the UK in 1999, but cases of mesothelioma have increased by 61% since the early 1990s. It can take 30 to 40 years to develop, meaning men who worked with asbestos in the 1980s or early 1990s are now most at risk.

As asbestos is so widely used in the UK we have the worst rate of mesothelioma in the world, with 2,500 diagnosed each year.

Sex Pistols manager Malcolm McLaren died of illness at the age of 64 in 2010.

He believed he had been exposed to asbestos while renovating Sex, the notorious shop he ran with his former partner, designer Vivienne Westwood, in Kings Road, London.

When chemotherapy or other treatments stop working, Prof. Fennell says patients are only a few months old. But experts believe abemaciclib may offer them new hope. It works by allowing the body to make a cancer-fighting protein, and while it may not provide a cure, it prevents the cancer from spreading, giving patients more time.

The patients in the study were given two tablets per day for 24 weeks. After six months of treatment, 23% of these did not have an additional cancerous tumor, although many were expected to die by then. Patients experienced few serious side effects from the treatment and were also less dependent on pain medication.

David Squires, 65, from Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, was one of the first mesothelioma patients in the UK to benefit. As a teenager, he worked with asbestos, unaware that he was breathing in tiny toxic fibers that would attack his lungs years later.

“I was just 17 when I apprenticed at a local fire door installation company,” says David, a father of three. “My job was to cut and install asbestos behind hotel doors.”

This was followed by a long construction career, which David suspected of coming into contact with the hazardous material. But decades later, when she was just over 60, she didn’t get paid for the show.

“I was playing golf in Spain when I was out of breath,” he says.

As the shortness of breath worsened, David went to the family doctor who had a chest X-ray done. It showed that he had fluid in his lungs that needed urgent evacuation. But worse was to come. In November 2019, a biopsy confirmed that David had mesothelioma, three lung cancers.

He was enrolled in a clinical trial at Addenbrooke Hospital for two cancer drugs — bevacizumab and atezolizumab — and kept cancer at bay for a while.

However, the tumor grew again and David switched to abemaciclib. “I’ve been working on it for over a year and it will take another eight months,” he says. “It keeps my cancer under control and I’ve had no reaction to the drug.” Now the optimist will give her more time to do the things she loves: spending time with her family and playing golf. “I know of others with mesothelioma that lasts less than six months after being diagnosed,” David says. “I play golf most days and my handicap is lower than it was before I got sick – I feel great.”