Peritoneal Mesothelioma Tumors Need Certain Proteins to Grow

Dr. H. Richard Alexander is a cancer surgeon and clinical researcher based at the University of Maryland Medical Center. He has been researching on the tumors of peritoneal mesothelioma in order to find the cause of it. Peritoneal mesothelioma is caused by the inhalation of asbestos fibers. Once inhaled, these fibers lodge in the human organs which leads to tumor development. The symptoms of this disease take decades to present themselves, which adds to the dangers associated with them.

Dr. H. Richard Alexander aimed to find the reason behind the uncontrollable growth of the tumor. He and his researchers have been using sophisticated molecular techniques to analyze the proteins produced by thousands of  genes and the complex molecular switches and signals that cause mesothelioma cells to grow and divide uncontrollably. In their attempt, the researchers analyzed the gene expression in mesothelioma tumors collected from 41 patients with  malignant peritoneal mesothelioma and tracked the patients’ survival which led to publishing of an article in January 2011. The article quoted the role of certain cellular signaling pathways in malignant peritoneal mesothelioma and presented findings that will not only help mesothelioma patients but, they will also be helpful to other cancer patients. 

According to the researchers, the patients who died relatively quickly had high levels of certain proteins such as Phosphoinositide 3-kinases and mTOR which are responsible for cell growth. To test the truthfulness of this hypothesis they took two lines of malignant peritoneal mesothelioma cells with agents to inhibit those proteins, which resulted in striking reduction of cell signaling and proliferation. They concluded that if the specific types of genes or proteins that are activated in a patient’s tumor are targeted then the growth of mesothelioma cells can be reduced significantly.